Acting United States Attorney Steve Butler of the Southern District of Alabama announced today that U.S. District Judge William H. Steele sentenced Carolyn Dortch, 54, of Atmore, Alabama, to five years of probation for embezzling funds from the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. The Court ordered that Dortch serve the first six months of her sentence on home confinement with electronic monitoring and imposed a credit restriction. The court also ordered Dortch to make restitution totaling $502,173.35 and to pay a $100 special assessment.
From around 2010 until October 2016, Dortch was employed as the Senior Services Director for the Poarch Band of Creek Indians. She led the Seniors Active in Learning Center, which provided numerous activities for seniors such as meals on wheels, games, crafts, and trips. Dortch was responsible for purchasing food and supplies and for handling tribal money on senior trips. In October 2016, the tribe discovered Dortch had been misusing her position of employment and submitting falsified receipts representing fictitious purchases. An investigation revealed that Dortch had been embezzling funds from the tribe and using these funds for personal gain.
In January 2017, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Alabama charged Dortch in a one-count information, alleging that over a four-year period ending in 2016, Dortch embezzled tribal funds. On Feb. 23, 2017, Dortch pled guilty to the offense in a hearing before Judge Steele.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Sinan Kalayoglu prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
