Nonprofit employee charged with wire fraud
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For the second time this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana has announced a federal grand jury indictment charging an employee of a Dubois County nonprofit with wire fraud.
The indictment alleges Michele Rose of Jasper embezzled more than $150,000 from a nonprofit healthcare organization, where she served as the medical staff coordinator.
While the name of the nonprofit was not released, previous articles on the website of Memorial Hospital and Health Care Center in Jasper name Michele Rose in that position.
According to court documents, Rose, 61, allegedly used her position to embezzle the money by writing 165 fraudulent checks to herself from March 2011 to December 2020 for reimbursement of purchases she never made.
“Rose made numerous false representations to organization leadership to obtain signed, blank checks to reimburse herself for nonexistent expenses,” U.S. Attorney Zach Myers’ office said in a news release. “Once the blank checks were signed, Rose wrote them to herself for various amounts and deposed the funds into her personal account.”
Rose allegedly concealed the fake reimbursements by omitting them from financial reports to the nonprofit’s leadership.
The grand jury indictment was unsealed on Tuesday following Rose’s arrest and initial court appearance. Rose was indicted on 12 counts of wire fraud and, if convicted, faces up to 30 years in prison.
The news comes just days after a similar case was announced in Dubois County. Myers’ office said Ellen Corn of Petersburg allegedly embezzled more than $156,000 from Jasper-based Mentors for Youth, for which she had served as executive director.
Corn faces 15 counts of wire fraud and could face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.