Embezzler Gets 24 Years in Prison

EUGENE, OR—An embezzler single-handedly credited with the demise of a printing company and the jobs of its 85 employees is paying a dear price for her transgressions. Vickie Monfore, 48, who wrote 234 checks from the IP/Koke Printing coffers out to herself and pleaded guilty to 84 different theft charges, will spend nearly 24 years in prison, according to the Eugene (OR) Register-Guard.

Prosecutor Bob Lane said that Monfore spent a good deal of the $1.56 million she misappropriated as accounts payable clerk on more than 30 flights to Las Vegas, hotels, vacations and cruises, the paper reported. Monfore's lawyer argued that her thefts were fueled by a gambling addiction, a claim the judge rejected while pointing out that Oregon casinos were only 90 minutes away by car. IP/Koke went out of business in December of 2008.

"It strikes me that you were just having a heck of a good time with family and friends," Lane County Circuit Judge Debra Vogt said to Monfore, according to the Register-Guard.

Jason Pierce, president and CEO of the defunct printer, told the newspaper that Monfore leveraged an "inappropriate relationship" with her boss, a former CFO for IP/Koke, to reconcile the company's bank statements.