Big Sandy woman headed to federal prison for defrauding Wood County business

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – A Big Sandy woman was sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay restitution to a business she pleaded guilty to defrauding.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Tamarisk Trejo Mathews, 52, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and was sentence to two years and nine months in prison on Oct. 16. She was also ordered to pay $334,252 to her victims.

Information presented in court revealed that Mathews was responsible for accounting duties of a restaurant and music venue in Wood County.  She worked in accounts receivable, accounts payable, and had access to the financial accounts of the business. Mathews also had authority to issue invoices to customers and issue checks and other payments to creditors. 

Beginning in about December 2018, Mathews devised and began executing a scheme to wrongfully obtain money, funds, and assets under the custody and control of the restaurant, the justice department said.

Among other things, she wrote checks that she was not authorized to write for personal expenditures, made charges in the business’s name from vendors such as Amazon, and used business funds to make purchases through PayPal. 

Mathews also opened an American Express account in the name of the business and obtained an American Express credit card. She then used the card and account to make personal purchases and expenditures and paid American Express for those purchases and expenditures using business funds and the business bank account.  The scheme resulted in a loss to the business of $334,252.00, which she is required to repay.

The case against Mathews was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

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