COLUMBUS, Ga. — A former worker at a Columbus, Ga. real estate company received multiple years in jail after admitting to stealing thousands of dollars from her job.
The U.S. Department of Justice said Lauren Eldridge, 38 of Pine Mountain, admitted to stealing more than $450,000 from Keller Williams Realty River Cities, where she worked as a bookkeeper.
“The repercussions of employee theft are often felt beyond the prosecution, negatively affecting businesses, their customers and the community,” Acting U.S. Attorney C. Shanelle Booker said in a statement. “Fraud and theft will not be tolerated in the Middle District of Georgia. Our office will continue to work alongside our law enforcement partners to hold those who choose to disregard the law accountable.”
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The USDOJ said court documents showed Eldridge was working as an office manager and bookkeeper for Keller Williams when staff noticed discrepancies in a bank account back in October 2022.
They saw, upon review, that Eldridge had moved money from one account to others, and when they questioned her about it, she did not have a clear explanation.
Federal officials said after she was asked about the account transfers, Eldridge resigned from her position.
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In January 2023, a review of the Keller Williams accounts at the River Cities office showed that nearly half a million dollars had been paid into Eldridge’s personal American Express account between January 2017 and September 2022.
Review of the Keller Williams account showed Eldridge had moved $453,876.68 over several years.
"Eldridge admitted to KW representatives and their legal counsel in Dec. 2022 that she embezzled the money from KW to pay her personal American Express credit card balance every month. She reported that she intended to pay this money back when she first began taking funds after she had charged $30,000 to her American Express for home repairs," according to USDOJ.
Eldridge pled guilty to five counts of wire fraud in January.
The Justice Department said Eldridge was sentenced to 27 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay more than $450,000 in restitution to her previous employer.
“For years, Eldridge used her company’s funds like her personal ATM,” FBI Atlanta Special Agent in Charge Paul Brown said. “She will now have more than two years behind bars to consider the impact of her actions.”
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