Ex-union accountant to enter plea in embezzlement case

She is accused in theft of $400,000

Dec. 08, 2011
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By Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Dec. 08, 2011 0

Waukesha - A Waukesha woman charged with the theft of about $400,000 from a Wisconsin Operating Engineers fund is expected to enter a no contest plea next week and resolve the case without going to trial.

Sandra E. Jungbluth, 38, was an accountant for Carday Associates, which administers funds for the Operating Engineers and other labor groups.

She is accused of writing checks from the Operating Engineers account to herself and a now-former boyfriend, stamping those checks with the name of Mary Jane De Battista, a Carday vice president and manager of the company's Milwaukee-area offices, and cashing the checks.

De Battista and another Carday executive met with a Waukesha County sheriff's investigator on Feb. 4 and told the investigator they discovered that eight $2,500 checks had been cashed by Jungbluth without permission between Nov. 29, 2010, and Jan. 26, 2011, according to a criminal complaint filed against Jungbluth.

Jungbluth was arrested that day, the complaint states.

After the initial theft was discovered, a review of the Operating Engineers account found Jungbluth had written out to herself and cashed another 154 checks totaling $373,500 between July 12, 2004, and July 14, 2011, and that between 2002 and 2004, she had written out in excess of 50 checks totaling $68,000 to her boyfriend, the complaint says.

Jungbluth was charged with theft in a business setting and two counts related to identity theft for financial gain.

Her attorney, Paul Bucher, said Thursday that Jungbluth plans to enter a no contest plea on Dec. 15 to the theft in a business setting charge.

As part of a plea agreement, the two other counts would be dismissed but considered by the judge when Jungbluth is sentenced.

Carday's insurer has covered a large portion of the funds that were stolen, Bucher said.

According to the criminal complaint, when Jungbluth was arrested on Feb. 4, she began to cry and told De Battista that she was sorry.

She later told investigators that it was her ex-boyfriend's idea to take the money and she did it because she was afraid of him, the complaint says.

Jungbluth faces up to five years in prison and five years of extended supervision when she is sentenced.

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