Longtime federal employee sentenced in embezzlement

Kim Smith

Monday, Sept. 20, 1999 | 10:52 a.m.

A longtime paralegal with the U.S. attorney's office was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Friday on embezzlement charges.

U.S. District Judge Johnnie Rawlinson gave Elizabeth Simmons 30 months in prison and ordered she repay $1.5 million Simmons admitted she stole from the federal government over a 10-year period, Assistant U.S. Attorney Howard Zlotnick said.

Simmons was given until Nov. 17 to turn herself in to authorities, Zlotnick said.

According to prior court testimony, Simmons, who spent 18 years with the U.S. attorney's office, filled out vouchers with false names and Social Security numbers to create the illusion that witnesses had traveled to Nevada to testify in court. She then got checks from the U.S. Marshals Service and cashed them to feed a video poker habit.

Simmons pleaded guilty in March to charges of embezzlement and theft, making false statements to the U.S. Marshals Service and filing a false 1997 tax return that hid $210,000 she had stolen.

Simmons could have received anywhere from 27 to 33 months in prison.

Zlotnick said Simmons' actions should not detract from the fine work the U.S. attorney's office does.

"She traded on her long tenure as a federal employee and exploited the trust of others, which allowed the scheme to continue as long as it did," Zlotnick said.

Simmons' case was handled by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section in Washington.