Female "Fraudster" Scams Almost $400K From Trucking Company

Female “Fraudster” Scams Almost $400K From Trucking Company

Tulsa, OK – On Wednesday, a Bartlesville woman was sentenced in federal court for stealing almost $400,000 from a trucking company along with submitting a false tax return.

U.S. District Judge Gregory K. Frizzell sentenced Gina Lisa Preble, 59, to 26 months in federal prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud and subscribing to a false tax return.

According to case documents, Preble was employed as a clerk at TransWood Carriers Incorporated from 2011 until her termination in 2017.

Court documents detail the lengths to which Preble went to conceal her thieving scheme.

She created fraudulent “draft checks” which she mixed in with legitimate business expense “draft checks” in order to trick her supervisor into signing them, a U.S. Department of Justice statement said.

Preble then deposited fraudulent draft checks totaling $394,058.20 into her personal checking account, and used the funds for her own personal gain.

Additionally in 2016, Preble signed and submitted a false tax return, omitting the stolen funds as income.

The court further ordered Preble to pay back the $394,058.20 in restitution.

This is not Preble’s first offense, said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

“With five fraud related convictions since 1981, Gina Preble has made a career out of white collar crime,” said Shores.

Shores continued, “It is not only armed robbers who cause economic harm to our community. Fraudsters like Gina Preble must be prosecuted and dealt serious consequences. Enough is enough. Not only will she be required to pay back the money she stole from the victim, but she will also spend some hard time in federal prison.”

The Financial Litigation Unit at the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Oklahoma will pursue the restitution owed to TransWood Carriers.