After a five-day jury trial, a former bookkeeper of a Washington State flooring company was sentenced to three years in prison for four counts of wire fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of conspiracy.
According to testimony during the trial and records filed in the case, Jodi Hamrick conspired with the co-owner of Mukilteo, Wash.-based Gluth Contract Flooring, David M. Gluth, to steal from the company and defraud the silent partner who had put up the money for the business.
Between 2011 and 2016, they embezzled more than $400,000 from the commercial flooring business, paying for a home mortgage, luxury vacations, Nordstrom bills and more. They also defrauded financial institutions by taking out loans without the knowledge or permission of the company’s co-owner.
The flooring company went bankrupt in 2016, and the silent business partner was left with nothing but debt.
U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones noted that Hamrick had stolen from an earlier employer but was not prosecuted for that theft. “You didn’t learn from it, you used it as an opportunity to get an advanced degree in theft,” Judge Jones said.
Gluth was charged in November 2020 and pleaded guilty in January 2021. He was sentenced to two years in prison and restitution of $325,000.
