Osburn woman sentenced for embezzling $3.6M from employer
COEUR D’ALENE, Idaho – A Silver Valley woman will spend four years in federal prison for committing wire fraud.
Trina Welch, 49, of Osburn, embezzled more than $3.6 million while working at Kasco. Kasco is a construction and telecommunication company that does work in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana and Alaska.
The Department of Justice said Welch used her position as a bookkeeper to defraud Kasco and obtain the money for herself. She issued 341 fraudulent checks to purchase properties, vehicles and travel for herself, her family and friends.
She did this from 2013 until the day she was terminated on July 3, 2019.
Welch pleaded guilty in January 2022, admitting that in 2017 alone, she took more than $930,000 just to pay off her Bank of America credit cards.
As part of her plea agreement, she admitted to writing the fraudulent checks and agreed to pay restitution, as well as forfeit her interest in any of the properties she bought with the money.
Welch contested that the entire amount of the checks represented a loss to Kasco. After a two-day hearing, a judge found that Welch’s scheme caused a $3,673,934 loss to the company.
The judge then ordered Welch to forfeit her interest in six different properties she purchased with the funds.
After serving her time in federal prison, Welch will serve three years of supervised release.
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