SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — A Carthage couple was sentenced in federal court Wednesday for their involvement in a five-year-long embezzlement scheme that totaled more than $235,000.
Jeanine A. Poe, 52, and William Poe, 58, were sentenced in two separate appearances before U.S. Chief District Judge Beth Phillips:
- Jeanine was sentenced to two years in federal prison without parole.
- William Poe was sentenced to five years of probation.
The court also ordered the couple to pay $235,744 in restitution to the owner.
Back in June of 2020, Jeanine pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. William pleaded guilty to one count of misprision of a felony.
Originally, Jeanine was hired in 2014 by a friend to manage two Doc Stop convenience stores in Joplin and paid more than $50,000 a year for her service. The owner of the business had little to do with the business other than investing his money into them at the time with the plan for them to later serve as a source of income during his retirement.
But later on in 2015, Jeanine told the owner the businesses weren’t doing well financially and asked for more investment money. The owner complied and continued to invest much of his salary into the stores.
After the businesses continued to lose money, the owner contacted a friend in 2019 to review the financial affairs of the stores. What they learned was that over the five-year period Jeanine had been employed she embezzled hundreds, if not thousands from the businesses, while transferring large amounts into her own bank account.
Jeanine had obtained at least seven credit cards in the name of the business, conducted transactions on these cards unrelated to the businesses, and paid them off with funds from the stores. One of these cards was in William Poe’s name.
The owner eventually lost one of his two stores and had to file for bankruptcy due to the scheme.
William later admitted that he was aware of his wife’s embezzlement, yet concealed the scheme from the owner thus allowing Jeanine to continue these fraudulent transactions for years.
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Carney. It was investigated by the FBI.