Woman Sentenced To Over 2 Years In Prison In Forgery Case

LAFAYETTE, La. – A Lafayette woman was sentenced to 29 months in prison and five years of probation for defrauding more than half a million dollars from Waste Auditors Inc., the Lafayette company where she worked, according to U.S. Attorney Stephanie A. Finley.

61-year-old Bunnie Morris, of Lafayette, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Elizabeth E. Foote to pay $337,049 of restitution. According to evidence presented at the February 20, 2014 guilty plea, Morris was employed as a financial accountant/bookkeeper for Waste Auditors Inc. from 2001 to 2009. During that time, she forged signatures of corporate officials on numerous payroll, bonus, and expense account corporate checks processed through two banks totaling $579,050. Not only did she forge checks and expense account information, she orchestrated unauthorized payments to herself in the form of pay raises and bonuses. In order to disguise her actions, she listed in the company’s financial records that she had voided all fraudulent checks that she had cashed or deposited, when in fact she negotiated and received benefits from those checks. Morris was not an authorized signatory on any corporate checking account and was required to obtain signatures from supervisors before executing a transaction.

The U.S. Secret Service conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard C. Parker prosecuted the case.