D.A.: Chesco woman embezzled $1 million-plus
By Tricia L. Nadolny, The Philadelphia Inquirer | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
"It seemed like she could get away with it," District Attorney
According to an affidavit, the 59-year-old Hawkins admitted the thefts when interviewed by detectives this month. Hawkins could not be reached for comment. Her attorney,
Hawkins began working at ModSpace, a leading supplier of modular buildings, in 2009 as director of compensation and benefits. Officials said that while in that position, Hawkins created a company called
Hogan said Caring Hearts was set up to be a health-care consulting firm that would aid employees in receiving benefits. He said Hawkins used the names of previous employees -- individuals who potentially could have been receiving insurance payments from ModSpace -- in the payment requests.
Hawkins listed her daughter,
He said the scheme was sophisticated and would not have been caught by an audit.
"The only way to really penetrate that would be if somebody picked up the phone, tracked down one of those old employees -- and they're scattered all over the U.S. and world . . . and found, no, they were not using Caring Hearts," Hogan said.
Another employee at the company became suspicious shortly after Hawkins announced in early April that she was resigning to take another position, Hogan said. At the time, she tried to make two final payments to Caring Hearts -- for a total of
The employee notified management, which called the
Hogan said detectives would typically take from three to six months on a similar case, but in this one investigators worked for three days before interviewing Hawkins on
She was fired that day, officials said.
In total, Hawkins is accused of stealing
Hawkins, of
There was no answer Monday night at Hawkins' home, a brick-faced ranch set on a large, manicured lot in a quiet residential neighborhood.
[email protected] 610-313-8205
@TriciaNadolny
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