Anchorage, Alaska - U.S. Attorney Bryan Schroder announced that a Naknek woman has been sentenced for embezzling approximately $510,181 from Naknek Electric Association (NEA), an organization receiving federal funds.
Donna Vukich, 60, of Naknek, Alaska, was sentenced yesterday by Chief U.S. District Judge Timothy Burgess to serve 34 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. In January 2019, Vukich pleaded guilty to theft concerning a program receiving federal funds, and filing a false tax return. Vukich has repaid $510,181 in restitution to NEA.
According to court documents, from January 2011 through December 2015, Vukich was the General Manager of NEA. As part of her duties as General Manager, Vukich was in possession of a company-owned credit account for the purpose of making business purchases for NEA. During this time, Vukich paid approximately $510,181 in unauthorized personal expenses with a company credit card and used NEA funds to pay the credit card bill. The unauthorized expenditures included paying for travel, for her daughter’s college tuition, cash advances, and entertainment items for her, her family, and friends. Vukich spent approximately $51,000 at Norwegian Cruise Lines, approximately $62,000 on Alaska Airlines flights, approximately $16,000 at Little Creek Casino Hotel and Resort in Washington, and approximately $7,000 at dōTERRA.
As General Manager, Vukich was responsible for the financial reporting of NEA, to include overseeing the identification of expenditures and assigning the expenses to various general ledger accounts. The investigation revealed that Vukich falsely assigned the charges for her personal expenditures to multiple general ledger expense accounts in order to conceal the nature of her unauthorized expenditures.
The investigation further revealed that Vukich intentionally filed false income tax returns for calendar years 2011 through 2015. She willfully did not report the amount of money she had knowingly converted from NEA during those years, which resulted in a tax loss to the United States of $138,689.
IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) conducted the investigation leading to the successful prosecution of this case. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Aunnie Steward and Anne Veldhuis.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
