Cranston woman sentenced to Federal Prison for mail fraud

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) – Attorney Zachary A. Cunha has announced a Cranston woman who worked as an office secretary for a local auto body business, who fraudulently stole nearly 200 checks provided to customers by insurance companies to cover repairs, has plead guilty, and will be sentenced to two years in federal prison.

48-year old Idalee Johnson of Pawtucket used two methods to get her funds, by not having customers sign their direct payment forms so they would be made to the auto body shop. In other cases, she wouldn’t give them to insurance companies, so checks to pay for repairs were sent directly to customers who gave the checks to her, since she was a representative of the business.

Johnson admitted she deposited these checks into her bank account. Stolen checks were also sometimes given to family members, who would provide her with the funding. This plan would continue for two years, losing the auto body business more than $220,000.

At sentencing this Thursday morning, U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith sentenced Johnston to 24 months in federal prison followed by 2 years of supervised release. Johnston was also required to pay restitution totaling $220,083 to the owners of the auto body business she defrauded.

This matter was handled by the FBI, with the help of the Cranston Police Department.