Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

CPA Who Allegedly Embezzled Funds from Client May Have Been Desperate to Get Rid of Shag Carpeting

From John Veihmeyer’s favorite local broadsheet, the South Bend Tribune:

A local certified public accountant has been arraigned in Berrien County Trial Court in St. Joseph in connection with the alleged embezzlement of nearly $100,000 from a trust fund.


As for the how and the why:

Officers said the funds allegedly were taken from the trust fund account of Winifred Lentz around the time of Lentz’s death in 2005. Falsified documents were used to disguise where the money actually went, police said

They said Barnes used the money to carpet his home and purchase Euros during a period when he took a cruise. He also allegedly took more than $45,000 to pay off a personal loan.

From John Veihmeyer’s favorite local broadsheet, the South Bend Tribune:

A local certified public accountant has been arraigned in Berrien County Trial Court in St. Joseph in connection with the alleged embezzlement of nearly $100,000 from a trust fund.


As for the how and the why:

Officers said the funds allegedly were taken from the trust fund account of Winifred Lentz around the time of Lentz’s death in 2005. Falsified documents were used to disguise where the money actually went, police said

They said Barnes used the money to carpet his home and purchase Euros during a period when he took a cruise. He also allegedly took more than $45,000 to pay off a personal loan.

Latest Accounting Jobs--Apply Now:

Have something to add to this story? Give us a shout by email, Twitter, or text/call the tipline at 202-505-8885. As always, all tips are anonymous.

Related articles

Rita Bellew's racist rant at a Pennsylvania pizzeria

Philadelphia Woman Engages in Passionate CPA Awareness Campaign in a Pizza Parlor

A 55-year-old Philadelphia woman is being charged with ethnic intimidation and harassment — a hate crime under Pennsylvania law — after an unhinged, racist rant in a pizza shop brought on by Spanish language programming on the shop’s television. The original TikTok of her bizarre rant, which took place on February 23, has been removed […]

Your Naughty IRS Employee of the Day

Deena Vang Lee of Fresno, CA, was indicted in April 2019 and charged with wire fraud, aggravated identity theft, aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent tax returns, and making and subscribing false and fraudulent tax returns. She was accused of preparing family and friends’ returns for a fee that […]