[PR] D.C. Woman Arrested for Stealing More Than $100,000 of Donor Checks from a Local Non-Profit Organization

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, August 11, 2020

WASHINGTON – Maxine Williams, 48, of Washington, D.C., was presented today in federal court on a one-count criminal complaint charging her with interstate transportation of stolen property stemming from the theft of more than $100,000 of donor checks from a local non-profit organization, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Michael R. Sherwin, U.S Postal Inspector-in-Charge for the Washington Division, Peter Rendina, and Metropolitan Police Department Chief Peter Newsham.

           The affidavit in support of the criminal complaint alleges that Williams was employed as an administrative assistant by a non-profit organization in the District of Columbia between February 2015 and March 2018. Her job included performing clerical tasks, such as opening mail; processing donation checks; and preparing and mailing checks from the organization to vendors, service providers, and individuals.  In March 2018, after the non-profit organization became aware that six donation checks totaling approximately $18,000 had been stolen, it confronted Williams, who admitted to depositing four checks into her Bank of America account. A subsequent investigation revealed that approximately 123 checks payable to the non-profit organization were deposited into Williams’ Bank of America account from approximately February 2016 through December 2017. Those checks totaled $110,830. The investigation also revealed that between approximately November 2015 and May 2016, an additional 21 checks payable from the non-profit organization to individuals and/or a vendor in amounts totaling $11,702 were deposited into Williams’ account.

            The defendant was presented today before United States Magistrate Judge Robin M. Meriweather in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.  A criminal complaint is a formal accusation of criminal conduct for purposes of establishing probable cause, not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

            The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service’s Washington Division and the Metropolitan Police Department.   The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kondi Kleinman.