A Pocono Lake woman who stole over $3 million from the firm who employed her for 14 years was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Wednesday to serve 41 months in jail.

Tammy Simpson, 51, was sentenced by Judge Wendy Beetlestone on charges of wire fraud and filing false tax returns stemming from the theft from Metal Traders Inc., doing business as Triad Metals International, where she worked as an assistant controller.

The sentence was announced by U.S. Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero, who said Simpson was ordered to pay $3,199,196.68 in restitution and $708,643 to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service.

Simpson was charged in June 2022, with eight counts of wire fraud and four counts of making and subscribing a false tax return. She pleaded guilty to the charges a year later.

Prosecutors alleged the woman stole the money from Triad between 2012 and the time she was terminated in October 2019. They said she used the money to pay personal expenses charged to her credit cards and to make payments on personal loans and did so through electronic transfers from the company’s business checking account. They said she also kept credit cards of employees who had left the company and used them for personal expenses, including airfare and other entertainment costs for her family and friends, and to pay personal tax liabilities for herself and others for whom she prepared tax returns.

With regard to the IRS-related charges, officials said Simpson failed to report the money she stole from the company as income on her tax returns from 2015-2018.

In announcing the sentence, Romero issued a statement saying Simpson “was a valued employee, entrusted with significant financial responsibilities. For years, she abused that trust and her access to the business’s accounts, stealing more than $3 million of Triad’s money so she could continue to live beyond her own means. This sentence holds her accountable for her crimes and sends a message loud and clear that this is not the way to go about boosting your bank account.”

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney MaryTeresa Soltis. Wayne A. Jacobs, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia office, said, “From paying personal credit cards to purchasing airfare and entertainment, Tammy Simpson stole company money to fund her lifestyle. The FBI alongside our partners at the IRS and the U.S. Attorney’s Office will continue to pursue criminals who orchestrate their schemes out of greed.”