Woman pleads guilty to embezzling over $850,000 from St. Luke’s

A Portland woman pleaded guilty to charges that she committed wire fraud and embezzled $852,041 from St. Luke’s Health System, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Idaho.

Sara Curnow, 45, of Portland admitted to embezzling money from the hospital employees’ flexible spending account from 2009 through 2015, according to the release.

Curnow was found to have pulled funds from flex spending accounts on 294 different occasions, in amounts ranging from $600 to $9,100. She took them from sums employees hadn’t spent at the end of each year; those sums should have been forfeited back to St. Luke’s.

St. Luke’s says it is working with Pinnacle Pension Services to recover the stolen funds and has verified that all flex-spending money was paid correctly to participants during the time period of the embezzlement. St. Luke’s says all current employees’ funds are secure and accounted for.

The hospital system also changed its flex spending plan administrator from Pinnacle Pension Services to Wage Works.

Curnow is expected to be sentenced Aug. 30. She could face up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000.

This story was originally published June 9, 2016 at 8:53 AM with the headline "Woman pleads guilty to embezzling over $850,000 from St. Luke’s."