Source: United States Attorneys General
Headline: Former Meriden Resident Sentenced to Prison for Stealing from Employer
John H. Durham, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, today announced that YOLANDA SILVERIO, 54, of Austin, Texas, was sentenced yesterday by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in Hartford to 10 months of imprisonment, followed by three years of supervised release, for theft in connection with health care. Judge Bryant also ordered SILVERIO to perform 150 hours of community service.
According to court documents and statements made in court, SILVERIO, who formerly resided in Meriden, was employed as an Eligibility Coordinator for a Connecticut company that administers trust funds for public and private sector health benefit plans. As Eligibility Coordinator, SILVERIO received checks from individual participants in a particular health plan as payment for their union-related health benefits. Between May 2013 and July 2014, SILVERIO deposited 49 benefit checks totaling $35,461.34 into her own bank accounts.
In 2004, SILVERIO was convicted in federal court for embezzling more than $105,000 from two Connecticut businesses by forging signatures on business checks and was sentenced to 10 months of imprisonment, with five months to serve in home detention with electronic monitoring. SILVERIO’s supervised release was subsequently revoked and she was sentenced to an additional six months of imprisonment for failure to make a required lump sum restitution payment and for material misrepresentations to her probation officer.
Judge Bryant ordered SILVERIO to pay restitution in the amount of $35,461.34, and to notify any future employers in writing of her two prior fraud convictions.
SILVERIO pleaded guilty on February 24, 2017.
SILVERIO, who is released on a $15,000 bond, was ordered to report to prison on March 26, 2018.
This matter was investigated by the U.S. Department of Labor – Office of the Inspector General, and the U.S. Department of Labor – Employee Benefits Security Administration’s Boston Office. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan L. Wines.