Shakopee Bookkeeper Sentenced to 36 Months in Federal Prison for Stealing from her Employer

St. Paul - A former bookkeeper for a Shakopee, Minnesota, computer services company was sentenced today in federal court for stealing more than $1 million from her employer. Heather Rae Makwana, age 42, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison. She also was ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Kyle to pay $944,424.92 in restitution. Makwana had pled guilty in May of 2005 to one count of federal mail fraud relative to her actions.

According to court documents, Makwana was a bookkeeper for Data Center Systems, a company that sells and services computer equipment. At the time of her guilty plea, Makwana admitted that from September of 2001 until her scheme was discovered in April of 2005, she regularly stole funds from her employer. Those funds totaled approximately $1,044,424. She also admitted using the funds for her own benefit, which included making payments on her personal credit card accounts.

Makwana stole the funds by issuing a number of checks payable to herself and credit card companies to which she owed money. Makwana prepared the fraudulent checks using a typewriter to avoid detection through the company’s accounts payable computer system. She then forged the signature of the company’s owner on those checks. In an attempt to conceal the theft, Makwana routinely entered false payee information and invoice numbers into the company’s accounts payable computer system. Then, when the company’s bank statements and cancelled checks arrived in the mail, she removed and destroyed the original fraudulent checks so others at the company would not discover their existence.

This case was the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Nicole Engisch prosecuted the case.

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