7 Year Sentence in ID Theft Scheme
Health System's Payroll Specialist Made Fraudulent Transfers
A former payroll specialist at Wheaton Franciscan Services, a healthcare provider in Wisconsin, has been sentenced to seven years in prison in connection with an identity theft scheme that involved using personal information about 848 employees to make more than $1 million in unauthorized money transfers to her bank account.
Janice M. Nieman pleaded guilty in March to two counts of theft and one count of unauthorized use of personal identifying information or documents, according to court documents.
In addition to the prison term, Nieman must serve seven years of probation and pay more than $1 million in restitution to Wheaton Franciscan Services.
Between 2004 and 2013, Nieman used the employees' information more than 2,000 times to make false entries into the Wheaton payroll system, which led to the fraudulent money transfers into her bank account, according to court documents.
Nieman's scheme involved inflating the number of hours of paid time off in an employee's account, the documents say. She would then create a separate payment in the payroll system in the name of the employee for the amount of the false paid time off transaction. Nieman would then change the direct deposit bank routing and account numbers from the employee's default values to an account she controlled.
Nieman used a portion of the stolen money at slot machines in a local casino, authorities says.
