A Massachusetts woman could be facing a stiff sentence after a federal grand jury threw the book at her, indicting her for wire fraud to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars. Authorities have accused Jasmyne Botelho, a 41-year-old Dartmouth resident, of cooking the books at not one, but two different employers.

The charges, according to a statement from the Justice Department, involve the alleged theft of at least $280,000 from one employer over a span running from September 2017 through April 2020. In this scheme, Botelho reportedly rerouted company payments, intended for vendors to her personal accounts, used company funds to pay off personal credit cards, and an auto loan. She then allegedly covered her tracks by manipulating the company's financial records.

Botelho's alleged monetary shenanigans didn't stop there. From May 2022 until December 2023, she's accused of inflating her own payroll earnings by more than $160,000 at another employer. This time, she is said to have hidden the bloated earnings through crafty manipulation of payroll and accounting software—creating a facade of "reimbursements" she paid out to herself.

If convicted, Botelho faces up to 20 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and potentially fines amounting up to $250,000. These counts of wire fraud are no slap on the wrist, but the severity of the punishment will ultimately be at the discretion of a federal district court judge, based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the statutes that hold sway over criminal sentencing.

The torch of justice was carried into the public eye by Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy, with Jodi Cohen of the FBI's Boston Division. Prosecuting the case is Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Kearney, who can be safely assumed to be sharpening her legal skills in the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit. But as with all those accused under the mantle of Lady Justice, Botelho remains innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.