Norfolk woman sentenced in financial scheme
Published 10:05 pm Wednesday, October 31, 2018
A Norfolk woman was sentenced Tuesday to 26 months of incarceration for her money-laundering scheme that cost a Suffolk medical practice more than $300,000.
Evelyn Gregory worked at Specialists for Women beginning in 1997 and was the office manager. Her scheme started in 2009 and lasted until April 2016.
During that time, she used office credit cards for personal expenses, started a debt collection company and used it to collect debts owed to the practice and used that money for personal expenses, and even stopped paying office bills.
She pleaded guilty June 11 and was sentenced this week to 26 months of incarceration, followed by 36 months of supervised release. She also was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $307,077.47.
According to the indictment, Gregory took a number of luxury vacations and paid many personal expenses with the money she stole from the medical practice.
Among the expenses she paid with the practice’s money were $700 to Berry Hill Resort for a three-day stay, a spa visit and meals; $1,400 for a six-day cruise to the Bahamas; $290 to Geico for auto insurance; $590 to Great Wolf Lodge as a deposit on a three-day stay; and $3,500 for trailer repairs to TAC Trailer & RV Sales Center.
She later advanced her scheme and created AMC Collections and Debt Recovery in May 2015. Through her position as office manager at Specialists for Women, Gregory identified patients who owed money to the practice and pursued them for payment through the collections agency.
Gregory collected in excess of $40,000 in past-due balances, but rather than remit those payments to the practice, Gregory used them for her personal gain and wiped the debt off the practice’s books.
The maximum penalty was 20 years in prison and a fine of $500,000.