Heather Rene Armstead, 52, of Evansville, pleaded guilty to access device fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering in connection with the embezzlement scheme, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Indiana.
As chief operations officer of a healthcare staffing agency that serves senior living homes across Indiana, Armstead opened an unauthorized business checking account in the staffing agency's name in September 2023. She then directed customers to send payments to the fraudulent Middlesex Federal Savings account instead of the legitimate company account.
Between October and December 2023, approximately $74,781.57 in customer payments were deposited into the unauthorized account. Armstead also obtained unauthorized loans in the agency's name and transferred those funds into the same fraudulent account.
Using a debit card linked to the unauthorized account, Armstead made personal purchases at multiple retailers. Her spending included a $2,172.33 jewelry purchase at Helzberg Diamonds in Evansville, and she transferred large sums to her personal bank account.
Armstead was sentenced to four years and nine months in prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $245,007 in restitution. She has prior federal convictions for aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, and mail fraud.
U.S. Attorney Tom Wheeler stated that Armstead "abused her position of trust to steal hundreds of thousands of dollars from a company that relied on her leadership," characterizing her actions as "deliberate, deceptive, and financially devastating to an organization responsible for staffing senior living homes and providing elderly with the care they deserve."
