A Dartmouth woman stands accused of embezzling over a quarter-million bucks from her employer, authorities said. Jasmyne Botelho, 41, is faced with a single count of wire fraud after allegedly funneling $280,000 into her own pocket.
Botelho was nabbed this morning and hauled into federal court in Boston, where she made her initial appearance before being sprung on conditions, the U.S. Attorney's Office said yesterday. Per the feds, her little money grab ran from September 2017 all the way through April 2020, as she redirected payments meant for company vendors straight into bank accounts under her control. In a further twist, the former employee also allegedly used the company's dime to pay off her personal credit cards and auto loans.
Running interference for her scheme, Botelho is said to have cooked the company's books, crafting an illusion of legitimate payouts to actual vendors when the cash was, in fact, ending up in her own reserves. If the court finds her guilty, she could face up to two decades behind bars, with three years of supervised release and fines that could reach up to $250,000.
Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy, in cahoots with the FBI's top agent in Boston, Jodi Cohen, broke the news of the arrest. The government's legal arm, represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit, will be leading the prosecution. While the charges hang heavy, Botelho remains in the land of the presumed innocent, with her guilt still to be decisively proven in the clutches of the court.
