"36 Ways Your Bookkeeper Steals From You"

“36 Ways Your Bookkeeper Steals From You” includes many real-world case files, gleaned from situations encountered by Ms. Montgomery during her career. These case files are included with the hope they will trigger a memory or an original thought in the minds of business owners about a similar situation in their company.

“Didn’t I see something like that recently?”

“Hmmm, that somehow looks familiar . . . . “

These case files are invaluable pieces of information, written in plain language, that support the type of theft in that section of writing

Every type of theft discussed (except for one) in “36 Ways Your Bookkeeper Steals From You” is a theft Ms. Montgomery has seen and has cleaned up after. She has counseled the business owners, has prepared documents to present to law enforcement, and has helped the business owners recover from the theft.

In addition, included in “36 Ways Your Bookkeeper Steals From You” are several excerpts from IRS press releases showing the results of prosecution of large-scale bookkeeper theft. The IRS only prosecutes large-scale theft, and some of the numbers are staggering.

Bookkeeper theft is much more common than is widely known. Part of the reason is because business owners don’t want to publicize their loss: they don’t want creditors to know there is lost cash flow; they don’t want their peers to know there was some lapse of business practices; they may not have fired the thief; they may not want the rest of the staff to know there is a cash flow problem.

The case files tell the resolutions of the situations — whether the company owner filed charges, whether the owner refused to fire the bookkeeper, and why.

These Aren't Hypotheticals.
These Are Convictions.

Drawn from public IRS Criminal Investigation press releases and referenced in the book’s closing chapter. These are the cases that made it to the record — and they’re only some of the ones that got caught.

CASE 01⚖

Alicia Henderson

Bookkeeper — Non-Profit

$291,385.23

Amount Stolen

Forged and wrote 118 checks to herself over three years while serving as the organization’s bookkeeper, systematically draining funds meant for the nonprofit’s mission.

Sentence

33 months

Restitution

$356,104.23

Timeframe

2014–2017

CASE 02⚖

Nancy Martin

Bookkeeper & COO — Medical Practice

$3,100,000

Amount Stolen

Embezzled millions from a medical practice over five years while simultaneously filing false tax returns that added roughly $670,000 in tax loss on top of the theft itself.

Sentence

Federal conviction

Restitution

$670,000+ tax loss

Timeframe

2012–2017

CASE 03⚖

Kimberly Sue Peterson-Janovec

Bookkeeper — Three Employers

$2,181,000

Amount Stolen

Stole from three separate employers across her career — $950K, then $881K, then $350K — and was convicted on 24 counts including wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Sentence

24 counts

Restitution

$2,181,000

Timeframe

Multiple employers

CASE 04⚖

Jody Russell Trapp

Bookkeeper — Vendor Payments

$2,200,000+

Amount Stolen

Diverted vendor checks through fake and duplicate invoices for years, then disappeared for eight years before being caught and brought to justice.

Sentence

90 months

Restitution

$2,200,000+

Timeframe

8 years evading

Source: Details drawn from public IRS Criminal Investigation press releases (irs.gov).

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The IRS Only Sees The Biggest Cases

Small-business theft rarely makes it to public record. A few thousand dollars skimmed here and there doesn’t trigger a federal investigation — which is exactly why it goes undetected for years. The schemes in this book are the ones happening quietly, right now, inside ordinary businesses.

Case File: Open

The Theft Is Already Happening.
The Question Is Whether You'll Catch It.

Get all 36 case files — recreated documents, real schemes, and the warning signs to watch for — before your next bank statement arrives.

"36 Ways Your Bookkeeper Steals From You"

These Aren't Hypotheticals.These Are Convictions.

The Theft Is Already Happening.The Question Is Whether You'll Catch It.

These Aren't Hypotheticals.
These Are Convictions.

The Theft Is Already Happening.
The Question Is Whether You'll Catch It.