Woman Stole $182K From Animal Hospital: Indictment

BOSTON – A Lowell woman was charged this week in federal court in Boston in connection with embezzling some $182,000 from a veterinary hospital where she worked, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Sasha A. Saulnier, 32, was charged with one count of wire fraud. She appeared in federal court in Boston Thursday and was released on conditions.

Saulnier worked as a client relations specialist at an unnamed animal hospital in the area from October 2011 until September 2018, according to court documents. During that time, she was responsible for front-desk interactions with clients and managed phone lines, booked appointments and processed retail transactions for items sold at the animal hospital. In this capacity, she had access to a practice management software and the ability to process returns of purchased products and refund the debit or credit card used at the time of purchase.

Prosecutors say that between March 2014 and August 2018, Saulnier entered false refund transactions into the company’s practice management software, giving the appearance that a disbursement of money was legitimate. She then concealed the refund transactions so they went undetected by the company. When processing these fictitious refunds, Saulnier credited her own personal debit cards. All of these personal debit cards linked directly to Saulnier’s personal checking account. To do this, Saulnier would occasionally enter a fictitious refund of merchandise that was legitimately purchased by a customer, but never returned, and then credit the bogus refund to her own personal debit account, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

In August 2018, thinking a refund was processed in error, the hospital manager confronted Saulnier, who indicated that she may have made a mistake because she was working on two computers and must have entered the information incorrectly. But the company discovered other returns processed to the same debit card number, and before it could complete its investigation, Saulnier resigned in September 2018.

She faces up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000 or up to twice the loss involved, restitution and forfeiture for the charge of wire fraud.

Patch reporter Jenna Fisher can be reached at Jenna.Fisher@patch.com or by calling 617-942-0474. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram (@ReporterJenna).