Former Quapaw financial officer sentenced to 5 years probation in casino embezzlement
BY DAVID HARPER World Staff Writer
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
A former chief financial officer of the Quapaw Casino in Miami, Okla., was sentenced Wednesday in Tulsa to five years of probation after pleading guilty to a federal charge that alleged that she embezzled from the casino for more than four years.
Lori Lynn Beaty was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Claire Eagan to pay $9,615.25 in restitution as part of the sentence.
Beaty, 37, pleaded guilty Nov. 13 to a charge filed Sept. 28 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Tulsa which alleged she embezzled funds from the casino on a “recurring basis” from March 2007 until April 2011.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Shannon Cozzoni told the court in November that Beaty had informed tribal officials that she had used a tribal account to pay a credit card bill.
Cozzoni said then that Beaty’s disclosure prompted an internal audit, which led tribal authorities to discover the scope of Beaty’s conduct.
On Wednesday, Cozzoni told the court that the tribe considers Beaty’s crime to be the “ultimate betrayal.” Yet, the prosecution did not object to the defense’s request for probation instead of a prison term that could have been as much as six months under federal guidelines.
Eagan told Beaty during Wednesday’s hearing that the crime was a “terrible waste of a career for such a small amount of money.”
Beaty could face as much as 20 years in prison if her probation is revoked, Eagan said.
