Administrative Assistant Sentenced for Stealing From Employer

An Amarillo-area woman has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for stealing money from a business.

44-year-old Heather Carlton of Happy, Texas, was sentenced to 24 months in prison, following her May guilty plea to one count of forging securities of an organization.

Carlton will spend the next 24 months in prison, and has been ordered to pay more than $173,000 in restitution.

From April 2008 until December 2011, Carlton was responsible for maintaining the bank accounts for Paul Engler of Cactus Feeders at Amarillo National Bank.

In early 2010, when Engler changed bookkeepers, it was discovered that Carlton had stolen large amounts of money from Engler’s accounts by writing unauthorized checks to her and checks payable to cash. She concealed the thefts by making false accounting entries, and entering altered copies of bank statements.