Published: January 21, 2010 06:46 pm      

Chatsworth woman charged with stealing more than $1 million

A Chatsworth woman was arraigned in federal district court in Rome on Thursday on charges she stole more than $1 million from a firm founded by Dalton Mayor David Pennington.

Carolyn Lynn Cherry, 63, was released on her own recognizance by U.S. Magistrate Judge Walter E. Johnson. A former bookkeeper for Risk Innovations, she faces federal charges of mail fraud and bank fraud.

According to a press release from the U.S. attorney’s office, Cherry began working for a company identified in court documents as “R.I.,” an insurance broker in Dalton, in March 2003, soon after the company began operating. Between May 2003 and August 2009 she allegedly forged her supervisor’s signature on company checks and used them to pay her personal credit card bills, which totaled more than $1 million.

Pennington confirmed that Cherry worked for his Atlanta affiliate Risk Innovations.

“She stole the profits. She didn’t steal the premiums or the commissions,” he said.

Pennington said the company had a fidelity bond that has already paid the claim on the funds that were allegedly stolen.

“Our side of it is over. She was terminated as soon as it was discovered (Aug. 31), and we turned it over to our insurance company, which has already paid the claim,” he said.

Cherry was indicted by a federal grand jury on Jan. 12. The indictment charges her with 24 counts of mail fraud for using the U.S. Postal Service to pay her credit card bills, and three counts of bank fraud for cashing forged company checks. The mail fraud charges are punishable by a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 per count. The bank fraud charges are punishable by a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million per count. The U.S. attorney’s office said if she is convicted the court will consider the United States Sentencing Guidelines, which are not binding, in determining a sentence.

According to the press release, Cherry used forged checks to pay Citibank approximately $510,996; Chase/Washington Mutual, $416,406; and Capital One, $74,039. She allegedly used her credit cards to pay for several trips to Disney World and Disney resorts, as well as trips to New York, Washington, D.C., and several beach and river destinations. Prosecutors say she also used credit cards to buy items from television shopping networks and wrote three company checks payable to herself, for a total of approximately $11,300, and cashed them.

Cherry’s attorney, Brian McWhorter, did not immediately return a telephone message left at his office Thursday afternoon. A phone number for Cherry could not be found.