Updated June 11 at 2:00 p.m.
A former accountant at the Wiscasset nonprofit Coastal Enterprises Inc. has pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with the embezzlement of more than $300,000.
Stacey A. Backman, 41, of Brunswick, pleaded guilty to federal program and tax fraud charges in U.S. District Court in Portland, according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office press release.
Backman was a fund accountant at CEI. She embezzled the money from 2010 to January 2014, according to the press release. “CEI learned of the embezzlement in January 2014 and terminated the defendant’s employment,” the press release said.
Backman “faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the federal program fraud charge and up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine on the federal tax fraud charge,” according to the press release.
Backman would use corporate credit cards to pay for personal expenses and submit the charges to the accounts payable department, which would make the payments, according to court documents.
She fraudulently charged $10,065 to the cards in 2010, $64,796.13 in 2011, $117,552.37 in 2012 and $110,400.59 in 2013.
CEI employees confronted Backman in early January 2014. She admitted “the charges were hers” and “she had no excuse for her actions,” according to court documents.
Backman will be sentenced after the U.S. Probation Office completes a presentence investigation report.
The Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the Wiscasset Police Department investigated the case.
CEI invests in small and medium businesses and provides business support and technical counseling services.
“The organization operates in primarily rural markets where financial returns are not sufficient to attract traditional investment, but where CEI’s goal of achieving economic, social, and environmental benefits can be satisfied,” according to its website.
