Cantonment Bookkeeper Indicted For Stealing $282,000 From Local Company

August 23, 2012

A Cantonment woman is facing 125 charges for allegedly stealing $282,000 from her employer over a five year period.

Thursday, a federal grand jury charged 43-year old Kandi Kay Holden in a federal indictment that included 120 counts of wire fraud and five counts of federal tax violations.

The 125-count indictment charges Holden with diverting funds from her place of employment and failing to report this money as income on her federal income tax returns. From November 2004 until her discharge in January 2011, Holden was employed in the bookkeeping and accounting department of Cantwell Steel Erectors in Pensacola.

During her employment, she allegedly initiated 120 unauthorized wire transfers totaling $282,000. Prosecutors said she then transferred the money from the bank account of Cantwell Steel Erectors into various bank accounts that she controlled.

Holden is also charged with filing false tax returns for the years 2006 through 2009 and willfully failing to file her 2010 individual federal income tax return.

If convicted, Holden faces maximum sentences of 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud, three years in prison for each count of filing false tax returns and one year in prison for willfully failing to file a tax return.

The federal indictment followed an investigation by the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation unit.

Comments

12 Responses to “Cantonment Bookkeeper Indicted For Stealing $282,000 From Local Company”

  1. Sue on September 15th, 2012 3:17 pm

    It seems people are missing the big picute….she STOLE!!! Wire tampering is a FEDERAL offense. She knew what she was doing and not claiming her taxes may be an issue but she didn’t file because she knew she couldn’t explain where the money came from…she knew what she was doing…..and who the hell cares about the mug shot? Seems you people are more interested in what she looks like than the crime itself! WAKE UP PEOPLE! People make mistakes and unfortunately have to pay the price. I hope she takes her punishment and learns from it and become a better person.

  2. Sane American on August 24th, 2012 10:41 pm

    For Micah and Just Sayin,
    Actually, yes. She could, and should, have claimed it as income. The IRS has no clue where you make your money. If she had, the gov’t would not have prosecuted. If you do work for cash, you’re supposed to report it, though many people don’t. If you steal it, you can still claim it as income and pay taxes. All you have to do is file a return, they don’t ask where the money comes from, just so they can get their share is their only concern.

  3. dee from the b.p. on August 24th, 2012 9:08 pm

    get em!

  4. jeeperman on August 24th, 2012 5:18 pm

    It is likely that some one at Cantwell, or their auditor discovered the misdeeds.
    Local States Attorney refused to prosecute because pornography was not involved.
    So Cantwell filed 1099’s on Holden to the IRS.

  5. Just sayin' on August 24th, 2012 10:12 am

    @Micah,

    I know, right? I was just thinking did anybody actually expect her to report it? That’s kind of silly. I mean, really, people, who is going to say “Hey, I stole this money. Let me pay the taxes on it!” HAHAHA

  6. Abe on August 24th, 2012 7:10 am

    Was nobody watching the books for five years? Certainly someone had the responsibility to keep this sort of thing from happening.

  7. micah2021 on August 23rd, 2012 5:56 pm

    So wait…she was supposed to report stolen money as income?

  8. Sane American on August 23rd, 2012 9:49 am

    Ben,
    You are correct, but they also don’t prosecute locally for other reasons too. I worked at a local small business that went through this as well. The owner didn’t prosecute because he was embarrassed and because if he had and won, he would’ve had to pay taxes on what he recovered. In his mind, the costs outweighed the benefits. I would prosecute to the fullest extent to set an example. But he didn’t, and subsequently, it happened to him a 2nd and 3rd time. Proper internal controls could have easily prevented it from happening in his case, but he never put them in place. To the best of my knowledge, he still hasn’t.

  9. William on August 23rd, 2012 9:33 am

    >>Where is the mug shot?

    The feds do not always release them, and persons arrested on federal indictments are often not processed through a county jail.

  10. Ben on August 23rd, 2012 9:15 am

    Chris,

    Actually, few people who steal from private employers are prosecuted locally. The cases are difficult to prove, and the attitude seems to be it’s the employer’s fault for not having proper controls.

    It’s interesting that this is a federal indictment, not from the State Attorney’s Office.

  11. chris1 on August 23rd, 2012 8:01 am

    And these people think they wont get caught…
    Where is the mug shot?

  12. Henry Coe on August 23rd, 2012 4:34 am

    Good job LE. It’s hard enough to run a business without having your employees sabotaging it.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News