Naugatuck Woman Charged In $865K Embezzlement Scheme Pleads Guilty: Feds

NAUGATUCK, CT — A Naugatuck woman accused of embezzling over $865,000 from a local family-owned business pleaded guilty Friday to a fraud offense, according to court officials.

U.S. Attorney for Connecticut Vanessa Roberts Avery and Robert Fuller, a special agent in charge of the New Haven division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, announced in a news release Jennifer Cormier, 45, of Naugatuck, waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty in New Haven federal court to bank fraud.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Cormier was employed at a family-owned business, identified in court documents as "Company A," in Naugatuck, where she performed bookkeeping and other office-related tasks.

Between approximately sometime in 2017 and July 2023, Cormier stole from her employer by fraudulently creating approximately 1,000 checks made payable to her and to "cash," forging the signature of Company A's owner or using the owner's signature stamp on the checks, then cashing the checks or depositing them into her personal bank account, according to Avery and Fuller.

After the checks were issued, she deleted the transaction in Company A's accounting system. Cormier embezzled $865,106.17 through this scheme, according to Avery and Fuller.

Cormier is released on a $50,000 bond pending sentencing, which is scheduled for December, Avery and Fuller said.

The investigation was conducted by the FBI with help from Naugatuck police. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael McGarry.