Gina Allison pleads guilty to embezzling $380,000

Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that an El Dorado Springs, woman pleaded guilty in federal court Friday, Jan. 20, to a mail fraud scheme by which she stole more than $380,000 from her employer and to filing a false tax return.

Regina Allison, 47, of El Dorado Springs, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Magistrate Judge David P. Rush to both counts of a federal information that charges her with one count of mail fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.

Allison was hired by Allison Tire Company, Inc., and Allison Oil and Auto Supply in 2003. As a part of her duties at the company, which is owned in part by her ex-husband, Allison prepared company checks for payment of invoices. Allison was fired from her position in November 2015 after her supervisors discovered that she had forged numerous checks from the accounts of Allison Tire and Allison Oil to pay fictitious businesses she had created for her personal benefit.

According to today’s plea agreement, Allison opened two bank accounts, one at a bank in Bolivar and another at a bank in Nevada under the names of two separate businesses. Neither of the business entities actually created any products or provided any services. Allison admitted that she used her position at Allison Tire and Allison Oil to write numerous company checks to these fictitious businesses, and forged the signatures of authorized signors.

Over the span of nearly four years, from November 2011 to November 2015, Allison embezzled a total of at least $380,134. Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Allison must pay that amount of restitution to her former employer.

Allison also admitted that she failed to report this embezzled income on her federal income tax returns. The total tax loss to the United States was $58,813, without penalty or interest. The total tax loss to the state of Missouri was $16,315, without penalty or interest.

Under federal statutes, Allison is subject to a sentence of up to 23 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes, as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Casey Clark. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.