Embezzlement sentencing scheduled for Feb. 5

COEUR d'ALENE - Sentencing for the former city finance employee who embezzled approximately $365,000 in city funds will be Feb. 5.

Sheryl Lynn Carroll, 52, pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud in U.S. District Court Monday in Coeur d'Alene. Carroll faces up to 20 years in prison and $250,000 in fines for each count. She signed the plea agreement in mid-October, but went before U.S. Judge Edward Lodge Monday to enter it.

"The court is going to accept your plea," Lodge said.

Carroll was hired by the city Oct. 17, 2002. She stole around $365,000 through 120 fraudulent transfers from 2007 to 2012 as she worked as a payroll coordinator in the city's finance department, according to court records.

She made fraudulent transfers "one to three times a month," Assistant U.S. Attorney Traci Whelan said.

Attorney Gary Amendola, representing Carroll, said neither he nor his client would comment on the case at the time. Carroll did not speak at the hearing other than when she entered the pleas and told Lodge she understood the agreement she was entering.

Sentencing will be at 9 a.m. at the federal courthouse.