According to Tennessean.com, Alive Hospice CFO Missy Bordelan has quit her job after admitting to committing mail fraud at her former employer. Ms. Bordelan was hired in October while under indictment for 10 federal charges. “Bordelon admitted to taking more than $192,000 total and entered a guilty plea to one count of mail fraud in September. The conviction carries up to 20 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 on top of making restitution to the hospital. No sentence or penalty has been set yet, according to court records.”
Alive Hospice says that they conducted a background check and the article infers by that point that nothing turned up. How is this possible? I have a theory.
One scenario is that they didn’t conduct a Federal Criminal Record Search. Criminal activity tried in Federal District Courts typically involves violations of the Constitution or federal law. These crimes may include tax evasion, embezzlement, bank robbery, kidnapping, mail fraud and other federal statute violations. Federal criminal convictions do not appear in state or county felony and misdemeanor court record searches, therefore a federal district search is imperative if such records are needed. Each state is comprised of federal districts.
In the article, an expert from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners suggests that pending charges sometime fall through the cracks. However, if the article is correct that she plead guilty in September, there should have been federal record when they conducted the check in October.
