‘Let her greed blind her.’ GA bookkeeper stole over $1 million from coin shop, feds say
Alice Sue Smith was the bookkeeper at a family-owned coin shop for 14 years. Prosecutors said she embezzled from the business for nine of them.
Smith was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison on Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Northern District of Georgia said in a news release.
She was also ordered to pay $1.48 million in restitution.
“Smith let her greed blind her to responsibilities her company entrusted her with,” Chris Hacker, Special Agent in Charge of FBI Atlanta, said in the release. “For that she will be held accountable.”
The 63-year-old from Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, waived her right to an indictment and pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing a false tax return in February, court filings show. A defense attorney appointed to represent her did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on Thursday.
But in sentencing documents, her attorney said Smith “felt enormous pressure to financially support her family in a way that wasn’t possible on her salary of less than $30,000 a year.”
That included paying for her husband’s medical surgeries and supporting the family while he was out of work, caring for her older sister after a stroke and helping her daughter after a divorce, according to court filings.
“Ms. Smith’s actions were not motivated by a desire to live a lavish lifestyle but by a desire to ensure that she was financially able to care for her loved ones,” her attorney said.
Prosecutors said Smith began working as the bookkeeper and office manager at Chattanooga Coin Inc. in 2004. Part of her job included making bank deposits and preparing checks to be signed by the then-owner.
Chattanooga Coin specializes in buying and selling gold and silver as well as U.S. and foreign coins, according to its website. Lewis Revels bought the business in 1981 and ran it until his death in 2018, when prosecutors said his wife and daughter took over.
A representative from Chattanooga Gold did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment.
According to court filings, Smith began embezzling from the business in April 2009 by forging Revels’ signature on checks. Prosecutors said she covered her tracks by lying on the check stubs.
On one occasion, Smith reportedly wrote a check for $900 but wrote on the stub that it had been issued for $23.60 at a coffee shop.
She’s accused of embezzling more than $1 million from April 2009 to August 2018.
Prosecutors requested a prison sentence of four years and three months. They said Smith was accused of embezzling more than $100,000 from a previous employer in the early 2000s and was sentenced to 12 years of probation — a sentence she was still serving when the embezzlement at Chattanooga Coin began.
“The sentence imposed should take into account her decision to commit the exact same criminal conduct even after receiving a second chance,” prosecutors said.
Smith’s defense attorney had requested two years, pointing to her remorse and attempt to pay back the Revels.
“Ms. Smith intends to do everything she can to try to rectify the damage that she has caused,” her attorney said.
This story was originally published August 19, 2021 at 3:16 PM with the headline "‘Let her greed blind her.’ GA bookkeeper stole over $1 million from coin shop, feds say."
