Las Vegas woman receives federal prison sentence for WM defrauding case

A Las Vegas woman was sentenced to three years in prison after defrauding a waste disposal company, a report by KTNV says. Donna Alms, former of the Big Island of Hawaii, was sentenced Aug. 8 to 33 months in federal prison.

Alms pleaded guilty in January 2018 to wire fraud and money laundering offenses that occurred while she was an operations specialist for Waste Management of Hawaii Inc., Waikoloa, Hawaii. The report says Alms defrauded the company of $862,722 over the course of four years.

The report says her duties at Waste Management of Hawaii included obtaining temporary laborers to pick litter from the company’s landfill site and to arrange for their payment through an outside vendor. The vendor would then submit invoices to Alms for payment by Waste Management.

The former employee admitted during court proceedings that she inflated around 247 invoices submitted to Waste Management by the vendor. She would cut and paste numbers onto a template she maintained. Her actions caused Waste Management to pay the vendor $862,722 in costs above what was billed. The report says Alms then directed the vendor to return $692,549 of the excess payments to her, calling them wages.

In addition to prison time, Alms was ordered to pay restitution of $862,722 and to serve a three-year term of supervision following her release from prison.