Former congressional staffer Courtney Melissa Hruska has admitted to quietly draining her onetime boss’s bank account, pleading guilty Tuesday to wire fraud after prosecutors say she funneled more than $22,000 from Rep. Marcy Kaptur’s funds to cover her own credit card bills. The plea covers 10 unauthorized wire payments over roughly 11 months, and a federal judge has set sentencing for June 23, 2026. The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia.
Prosecutors' account
According to court filings, Hruska, 40, of Alexandria, used the congresswoman’s stored payment information to initiate 10 unauthorized payments totaling $22,865.07 between Aug. 19, 2023, and July 30, 2024. Local reporting says the U.S. Attorney’s Office identified the Eastern District of Virginia as the source for the case details, which put in black and white how the quiet withdrawals added up over nearly a year.
How the theft unfolded
Prosecutors say Hruska worked for Rep. Kaptur from August 2015 until January 2022, when she left for a federal job but held on to the lawmaker’s financial information and later used it without authorization. In a statement of facts filed with her plea, Hruska is quoted as saying she believed the member “was not tech savvy” and would not notice electronic withdrawals, as first reported by the New York Post.
Charges, penalties and restitution
Hruska pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and faces a statutory maximum of 20 years in prison, according to prosecutors. Officials say the member recovered less than nine percent of the stolen funds because more than a year passed before the theft was discovered, per reporting by FOX5. The case is scheduled to return to federal court for sentencing on June 23.
Local angle and next steps
Rep. Marcy Kaptur represents Ohio’s 9th District and maintains a Washington office in the Rayburn House Office Building and a district office in Toledo, information listed on her official site. The prosecution, brought by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, will determine restitution and any prison term when Hruska is sentenced in June.
