Coeur d’Alene woman ordered to serve 43 months, pay $1.5 million in restitution for embezzlement

A Coeur d’Alene woman was sentenced to 43 months in federal prison and ordered to pay back almost $1.3 million in embezzled funds to the cabinet company where she worked for 30 years, plus $175,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.

Sue Ann Larson, 63, pleaded guilty in February to wire fraud and making a false tax return, according to court documents. She was accused of transferring funds from Tapley Cabinet Works, where she was employed as a bookkeeper, to pay off personal credit card debt from 2009 to 2018.

She embezzled close to $700,000 from 2013 to 2018 alone, according to court documents.

Larson altered the company’s ledger to make transfers to her credit card look like legitimate business expenses, according to court documents.

She will also pay $175,000 in restution for lying on her tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service, which investigated the fraud charges.

The Coeur d’Alene Police Department also investigated, according to a news release.

To pay back the funds, U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill ordered Larson to sell her home, a recreational property and two classic cars, according to a news release.

Larson will serve three years supervised release following her prison term, according to a news release.