2 Women Sentenced To Prison For Stealing More Than $1.1M From Tae Bo Creator
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A pair of Palos Verdes Estates bookkeepers were handed 33-month federal prison terms for stealing more than $1.1 million from Tae Bo creator Billy Blanks' company, prosecutors said Thursday.
Rhenee Sharmell Foster, 46, and 52-year-old Demetria Foster Gutierrez were also ordered to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution and barred from working in any capacity in which they would have access to their employers' funds for a three-year period after their release from prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Foster and Gutierrez both pleaded guilty in 2011 before U.S. District Judge Gary A. Feess to bank fraud and fraudulently using an access device issued to another person.
According to prosecutors, Foster and Gutierrez made unauthorized withdrawals from the bank account of BG Star Productions on more than 70 occasions from March 2007 through March 2010.
Billy Blanks and his then-wife Gayle hired the women in 2004 and gave them access to the BG Star Productions bank account so they could pay the couple's personal and company bills.
Foster and Gutierrez used the access to secretly withdraw and transfer funds from the account to pay off more than $1 million in charges that the women had incurred on their own American Express cards, according to federal prosecutors.
The stolen funds were used by Foster and Gutierrez to pay for, among other things, expensive clothing, vacations, and down payments on several Range Rovers, according to court papers.
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