Former Voorwood CEO pleads guilty to fraud

Peggy Kaye Witts, 61, of Redding, pleaded guilty on July 21 to one felony count each of wire fraud and tax evasion, arising out of her emebezzling over $850,000- from the Voorwood Company, Inc., of Anderson and failing to report the stolen money as income.

Witts is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Damrell on September 29, 2008 at 10 a.m.

Witts was employed by Voorwood beginning in 1991, becoming the chief financial officer in 1999 and president in 2002, according to prosecutor Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Stegman.

Witts admitted to defrauding the company by issuing duplicate paychecks to herself for over four years and issuing company checks to herself, family members, and others for her personal expenses. She also admitted to tax evasion based on her failure to report the embezzled money as income and to pay taxes on the money.

The case is the product of an extensive investigation by the Anderson Police Department, the U.S. Department of Labor's Empployee Benefits Security Administration and Office of Inspector General, and the IRS.

For wire fraud violation, Witts faces up to 20 years in prison, and up to five years in prison for tax eveasion, with a fine of up to $250,000 for each count. However, her actual sentence will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of the Federal Sentencing Guidelines.

The plea agreement also requires that Witts pay full restitution for her crimes, including that the defendant turn over to Voorwood the proceeds from the sale of her house in Redding, other real estate in Shasta County, a mobile home, and all interest in her Voorwood retirement plan, and a Roth IRA.

The plea agreement also requires taht she be prohibited for 13 years from participating in any way with administering an employee benefit plan, as an adviser to an employee benefit plan, or in any capacity that involves control of the assets of any employee benefit plan.