A Swissvale woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year to embezzling $321,255 from a Pittsburgh nonprofit where she used to work was sentenced Thursday to serve 17 months in federal prison.
Danielle Strother-Rush, 34, who was an accounting coordinator for the Eastern Minority Supplier Development Council, a Pittsburgh nonprofit organization that was created to increase business opportunities for minority-owned businesses, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge David Cercone.
Cercone also ordered Strother-Rush to serve two years of probation after her release.
Acting U.S. Attorney Stephen R. Kaufman said Strother-Rush spent the money on “gambling and other frivolous purchases.”
According to information presented in court, Kaufman said between August 2014 and August 2016, Strother-Rush embezzled the money.
“The primary way in which she embezzled funds was by writing checks to herself from the operating accounts and forging her supervisor’s signature on the checks. She also made unauthorized ATM withdrawals, including several at the Rivers Casino,” Kaufman said in a news release.
Kaufman reported Strother-Rush also accessed the nonprofit’s payroll bank account online and made unauthorized electronic checks payable to herself.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee J. Karl prosecuted this case.
The FBI and Pittsburgh police conducted the investigation into the thefts.
