Sentencing set in embezzlement case

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County woman accused of ripping off the founders of a humanitarian relief organization while they were working abroad is scheduled to be sentenced in Coeur d’Alene on Thursday.

April Leigh Mathews faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, although a federal prosecutor is recommending a sentence of 15-21 months, according to U.S. District Court documents.

Mathews, 40, was indicted in July on five counts of making false statements to federally-insured financial institutions as part of scheme to defraud Harry and Echo VanderWal, founders of The Luke Commission. The commission stages clinics in the remote African bush of Swaziland, a kingdom being ravaged by the HIV and AIDS pandemic.

Mathews entered into a plea agreement with the federal government in August.

Mathews was hired by the couple as an office assistant in 2007 and Echo VanderWal trained her for nearly 10 months, a point which prosecutors said goes to show that Mathews knew precisely what her job duties were and the limits to those duties.

Mathews allegedly betrayed the trust that was placed in her by opening up lines of consumer credit in the victims’ names and adding her name to existing charge accounts. She also forged checks and overpaid herself and her husband for work they contracted with the victims to perform.

U.S. Attorney Wendy Olson said Mathews used the victims’ assets for whatever purpose she desired and tried to conceal her activities by kiting money from one account to another. Mathews also floated credit card balances and changed the mailing addresses for statements to keep up the artifice.

“The defendant employed a variety of sophisticated schemes during her criminal activity that are difficult to ferret out and makes it difficult to reconcile the total loss attributable to the defendant’s activity, but it is substantial,” Olson said in a sentencing memorandum.

The government calculates the loss at $105,420, although court documents said the loss could be as much as $259,624.

Olson said in the sentencing memo that the financial ramifications of Mathews’ misconduct could be long-lasting.

“The victims’ immediate financial situation is a disaster. They owe money to many companies and their credit histories are destroyed,” Olson wrote.