Colorado Springs woman ordered to pay over 900K in restitution after theft from employer

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) - Mary Anne Schroeder pleaded guilty to felony theft of over $600,000 on February 12. Court documents outline that Schroeder stole the money from JBJ Precision Industries over four years through credit card transactions, transfers, and checks.

Former business owner of JBJ Precision Industries, David Rousseau, spoke to KRDO13 about the situation. He says Schroeder was his former bookkeeper and he trusted her.

"[I was] stunned," Rousseau said. "I couldn't believe that happened because I trusted her. Yeah, I assumed all of the money loss was due to COVID. I didn't suspect her of anything."

He said he first caught on last February when he got the feeling he should ask for a credit card statement. She gave him one the next day which showed the balance to be around $50,000. When he checked for himself, the balance was over $90,000.

The discovery prompted further investigation and led CCI Chase bank investigators and IT specialists to uncover that Schroeder had added herself to credit cards and issued hundreds of checks in the company's name to her personal credit cards and Target.

When she was asked for an explanation by investigators, she initially lied, according to court records, claiming Rousseau had instructed her to create the checks, saying he had guaranteed her a 20% slice of all profits of the company. She also denied fraudulent transfers and denied forging the checks and stamping them with his stamp.

Rousseau denied ever promising a profit share to Schroeder.

However, after being advised that bank investigators had her bank records and that they believed she was being dishonest, she admitted that she had stolen the money.

Schroeder pleaded guilty to theft, a class three felony, and was sentenced to four years of unsupervised probation and 120 hours of community service. She was also ordered by a judge to pay over $900,000 in restitution.