Woman who stole $450,000+ from eastern Iowa business sentenced to prison

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – A Toledo woman will spend two years in federal prison after stealing $453,672.68 from a family-business where she once worked.

A judge sentenced 51-year-old Leann Rouse Friday, as well as ordered her to pay back every penny in restitution, and serve three years supervised after she gets out of prison.

Rouse worked as a bookkeeper for a trucking company in Traer. While hired in July 2011, evidence revealed Friday shows she manipulated the books from January 2015 to August of 2020 while overseeing financial accounting software and payroll.

Rouse wrote roughly 242 unauthorized checks to herself in that time, then used the software to make it look as though the money was going toward business expenditures related to other companies the business worked with. But that was not the case.

Rouse pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on May 31, 2024. She was released on bond before Friday‘s sentencing, and must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons in the future, but a date hasn’t been set.

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