BOSTON — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Massachusetts), published as received.
BOSTON – A Randolph woman who was employed as a nanny pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston in connection with forging 65 checks totaling over $280,000 from her employers’ bank account.
Stephanie L. Fox, 30, pleaded guilty to three counts of bank fraud after being arrested and charged in October 2015. U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for Feb. 18, 2016, at 2:30 p.m.
Fox was employed as a nanny from about February 2013 until August 2015 when her employers discovered that for more than a year, Fox had been writing checks on one of their bank accounts and forging one of their signatures on the checks. Fox avoided detection by destroying the bank account statements when they arrived at her employers’ home. In total, Fox forged 65 checks totaling $281,917. She used the money to purchase jewelry, including a diamond pendant necklace and three Movado watches, as well as for travel to places such as the Bahamas, Aruba, Hawaii, Newport, Disney, and Cape Cod.
The charging statute provides for a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, a fine of $1 million, restitution and forfeiture. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Commissioner William Evans of the Boston Police Department, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark J. Balthazard of Ortiz’s Economic Crimes Unit.
