ST. LOUIS (AP) - An eastern Missouri woman has pleaded guilty to three federal counts of mail fraud, admitting that she stole thousands of dollars from a dairy supply company where she worked and from one of the company’s customers.
Stephanie Baker, 48, of O’Fallon, entered the guilty pleas and faces prison time when she’s sentenced in January, federal prosecutors said Tuesday in a news release. Each count carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison.
Baker was employed in the accounting department of Prairie Farms Dairy Supply Co. at the time of the fraud, prosecutors said. Beginning in March 2018, investigators say she applied payments from other customers to the account of a Dairy Queen restaurant in Columbia, Illinois. She then told the restaurant owner that in order to keep receiving dairy products and supplies, she would need to be paid in cash.
Prosecutors said the restaurant owner met Baker several times, handing over more than $48,000 to Baker, which she used for herself, including to cover the boarding and care of a show horse.
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