Farwell Funeral Service, Inc.
Outcome
LaSaundra Simmons, former bookkeeper at Farwell Funeral Service in Nashua, New Hampshire, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison in September 2024 and ordered to pay $541,381 in restitution after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $500,000 from the funeral home over eight years (2015–2023) through more than 100 unauthorized wire transfers and checks described as "commissions" or "consulting fees."
Details
Farwell Funeral Service, Inc. — $541,000 Bookkeeper Embezzlement / 27-Month Sentence (2024)
Outcome: LaSaundra Simmons, 52, was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $541,381 in restitution in September 2024, after pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud for embezzling more than $500,000 from her employer, Farwell Funeral Service, Inc. of Nashua, New Hampshire, over an eight-year period from 2015 to 2023 through more than 100 unauthorized wire transfers and checks.
Farwell Funeral Service, Inc. is a funeral home in Nashua, New Hampshire. LaSaundra Simmons worked as the funeral home's bookkeeper for several years beginning prior to 2015. Beginning in 2015 and continuing until discovery in January 2023, Simmons executed a systematic embezzlement scheme.
On more than 100 separate occasions, Simmons either made unauthorized wire transfers of funds from the funeral home's bank account to her personal bank account, or drafted checks she then deposited into her own account via electronic wire transfer. To conceal the unauthorized transfers, Simmons described the payments in company records as "commissions" or "consulting fees" — fictitious service descriptions designed to make the transactions appear as legitimate operating expenses. Over eight years, the cumulative embezzlement totaled $541,381.
The scheme was discovered in January 2023. Simmons, who had by then relocated to North Carolina, was indicted on 10 counts of wire fraud on December 6, 2023, and arrested in North Carolina on December 11, 2023. She pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud on May 20, 2024. U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Laplante sentenced her to 27 months in prison and 2 years of supervised release, with full restitution of $541,381 to Farwell Funeral Service.
Primary Source: North Carolina Woman Sentenced for Embezzling More Than $500,000 from Farwell Funeral Service | DOJ
How Crucible Prevents This
Eight years of bookkeeper embezzlement via unauthorized wire transfers and checks labeled as "commissions" and "consulting fees" represents a catastrophic internal controls failure. Any double-signature requirement for wire transfers or check issuance above a de minimis threshold would have caught this scheme in its first month. Crucible's DECISIONS log enforces documented decision rationale for any significant financial action — the equivalent of a two-person approval gate for expenditures. A small funeral home that funneled over $500,000 in unauthorized payments over eight years had no financial reconciliation or audit process operating at any meaningful level.
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