Source: Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) State Crime News
St. Croix, VI – United States Attorney Delia L. Smith announced today that Nicole Morales, 48, of Altadena, CA, and native of St. Croix, pleaded guilty before Magistrate Judge Emile A. Henderson III, to three counts of Wire Fraud. The sentencing in this matter is scheduled for March 19, 2025, where Morales faces a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
According to court records, on November 10, 2015, Morales began working as the Office Manager at Nichols, Newman, Logan, Grey, and Lockwood, P.C. in St. Croix, where her duties included processing payroll through Banco Popular. Beginning on December 31, 2015, Morales began fraudulently inflating her payroll using QuickBooks accounting software. Thereafter, Morales wired unauthorized funds from her employer’s Banco Popular account into three separate personal bank accounts owned by Morales. After transferring the funds, Morales would change the inflated amounts in QuickBooks to reflect her correct income and payroll figures. Morales would later generate reports in QuickBooks with the correct payroll figures which were approved by her employer. Morales continued this conduct until January 11, 2019. In total, Morales embezzled $372,496.34 from her employer.
This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel H. Huston.