SEATTLE — A woman who spent 34 years working as a bookkeeper for a family-owned Everett-area business was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday for stealing more than $2 million.
Judith Hutchinson, 65, of Everett had worked for decades at All Battery Sales and Service Inc. She pleaded guilty in May to embezzling money for seven years. She hid the thefts by falsifying the company’s books to show inflated costs, according to the U.S. Attorneys Office in Seattle.
Hutchinson reportedly spent the money on jewelry, vacations, a Corvette, a Porsche and online shopping sprees that regularly topped $2,000 a day.
At the same time, people at the company were delaying purchases and freezing wages to keep the company solvent, prosecutors said in a press release.
A coworker discovered the fraud in August 2016, triggering an investigation by the FBI and the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office.
Hutchinson was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly in Seattle. In addition to prison time, he ordered Hutchinson to pay back $2,427,478.
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