CHRISTIANSTED — A former office manager allegedly stole more than $370,000 from her employer by creating three fictional employees and “paying” their “salaries” over three years.
Nicole Morales, 47, a native of St. Croix, was charged in a 153-count wire fraud indictment, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said.
According to court documents, on November 10, 2015, Morales began her employment as
an office manager with Nichols, Newman, Logan, Grey and Lockwood, P.C. on King Street in Christiansted where she was responsible for processing employee payroll.
The offices of Nichols, Newman, Logan, Grey and Lockwood, P.C. upstairs at 1131 King Street in Christiansted.
In December 2015 through January 2019, Morales was engaged in a pattern of inflating her payroll. During this period, Morales also wired $371,595.74 from her employer’s bank account into three separate personal bank accounts.
Morales did the payroll processing for employees, including herself, using QuickBooks software linked to the law firm’s Banco Popular account, according to the charging information.
The accused would input payroll information that “falsely inflated the amount she was to be paid. She would then initiate the wire-transfer payments for the employees and herself,” according to the charging documents. “After the money was wired, she would go back into QuickBooks and change the amount she was paid back to what she was supposed to receive.”
Morales “then generated a report in QuickBooks with this amount and presented it to the Victim for approval,” according to prosecutors.
Starting on December 31, 2015, Morales “began a pattern of inflating her pay when processing payroll for the victim,” and “continued this pattern until approximately January 11, 2019,” according to the information. Using direct deposit via QuickBooks, Morales wired herself funds into “three separate personal bank accounts,” with Bank of St. Croix, Banco Popular, and Citibank.
If convicted, Morales faces a sentence of up to 20 years imprisonment. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
This case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is being prosecuted
by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel H. Huston.