Date: March 5, 2025
Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov
East St. louis, IL – A district judge sentenced a Collinsville woman to 51 months’ imprisonment after she embezzled more than $158,000 and stole the identity of a coworker while employed by AMK Heating and Cooling in Edwardsville.
Angela L. Cooper pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, one count of bank fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft and three counts of tax fraud. In addition to imprisonment, the judge ordered her to pay $168,536.12 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release.
“The U.S. Attorney’s Office aggressively prosecutes identity theft because the crime causes so much harm. Its victims suffer not only drained bank accounts, but they also endure sleepless nights, and it can sometimes take years to undo the damage,” said U.S. Attorney Steven D. Weinhoeft. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office is proud of our partnership with IRS Criminal Investigation and the FBI, and we will continue to hold those who harm small businesses accountable.”
According to court documents, Cooper served as the office manager for AMK and had access to the company’s checkbook and accounting software. Using these tools, Cooper fraudulently wrote more than 100 checks payable to herself and forged the signature of the business’s owner. Cooper tried to conceal her fraud by disguising the checks as payroll and loans to her from AMK. Over a two-year period, Cooper embezzled $158,658.41 from AMK.
“By nature, greed continues to grow if left unchecked. For two years, Angela Cooper found multiple ways to steal from her employer. Cooper’s greed even extended to a coworker,” said FBI Springfield Special Agent in Charge Christopher Johnson. “The FBI is proud to work alongside our IRS law enforcement partners to thwart corporate fraud and ensure justice for victims.”
While employed by AMK, Cooper also had access to employee files and personal information like birthdates and social security numbers. Cooper used a coworker’s information to apply for and fraudulently obtain a Discover credit card. Cooper maxed out the credit card, accruing $9,877.71 in charges on the card in a matter of weeks. In doing so, she committed bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, which carried a mandatory two year minimum sentence.
“Ms. Cooper broke the trust of her employer by embezzling well over $100,000 from them in her role as a bookkeeper,” said Special Agent in Charge Bill Steenson, IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) St. Louis Field Office. “The crime was compounded when she failed to report the stolen funds as income on her tax returns. All income is taxable, even stolen income and this sentence helps drive that point home.”
Finally, Cooper failed to report the additional income in her 2019, 2020 and 2021 tax returns to the IRS. Although fraudulently obtained, the income was required to be reported on her tax returns. Her omission of the additional income caused a tax loss of over $35,000 to the IRS.
IRS-CI and the FBI Springfield Field Office contributed to the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Zoe Gross prosecuted the case.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.