“I don’t know that she gets to keep anything that I’m aware of,” defense lawyer Dennis Gump said Wednesday. “They might have let her keep an older-model car.”
Scarpelli, 48, of West Carrollton is expected to spend 48 to 70 months in prison for embezzling as much as $5.2 million between 2011 and 2014, using a Miamisburg company's line of credit account, even after the company closed the account, according to court records. In April she pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement from a federal insured financial institution.
With reductions for good behavior, Scarpelli could be free in 3 1/2 years, Gump said, noting that she’s expected to be sentenced by the end of the year.
Both sides agreed on the property to be forfeited, but Gump said the defense continues to negotiate with authorities over whether Scarpelli should be responsible for $4.6 million of the missing money to be repaid through restitution, rather than the entire $5.2 million missing.
“Someone else was getting money from the bank that is unidentified,” said Gump, who estimated the value of the forfeited property at $500,000 to $600,000.
Scarpelli began working at the bank in 1996 and was promoted to manager of the Miamisburg branch in 2006. She had the authority to issue cashier’s checks of less than $50,000 drawn on loans, lines of credit or other commercial transactions.
The statement of facts included in the plea agreement said that between 2011 and May 2014, Scarpelli initiated a series of fraudulent withdraws on a line of credit from a local business.
The statement said Scarpelli would then issue a cashier’s check in an amount less than $50,000 and then convert that to cash, which she would pocket. To prevent detection, Scarpelli caused false entries to be made in U.S. Bank’s computer system, the statement showed.
The scheme was uncovered in 2014 through an audit of cashier’s checks. Scarpelli was arrested in October 2014.
With the proceeds from the scheme, Scarpelli and her friends gambled, vacationed and spent freely, according to federal records.
“She had a disease, a gambling disease,” Gump said, adding Scarpelli was undergoing specialized treatment, complicating her punishment.
“I’m not sure there’s a facility around that can treat that issue. We’re working on that,” he said.
Among the forfeited bank accounts are two U.S. Bank accounts containing more than $32,000 in the name of Deanna Leis, one of Scarpelli’s friends. Although mentioned in court records, none of the friends has been charged in the case.
In addition to her home at 5041 Dinsmore Road in West Carrollton, Scarpelli is to forfeit the home and property at 18 Horse Shoe Cove at Lake Waynoka in Brown County.
She also forfeited more than $12,800 in cash. From 2010 to 2014, federal investigators allege she carried bundles of cash from the bank.
While awaiting sentencing, she has been on electronic monitoring under house arrest in West Carrollton.
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