Frankfort Woman Sentenced To Federal Prison In Wire Fraud Plea Deal

FRANKFORT, IL — A Frankfort resident was sentenced to 1 year and 1 day in federal prison after pleading guilty to embezzling more than $650,000 from a national student organization that worked to improve minority representation in the pharmacy industry, according to a news release sent Thursday by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois.

Carmita Coleman, 50, was charged with four counts of wire fraud on Nov. 19, 2020. She pleaded guilty earlier this year to a single charge of wire fraud, according to the release. She had faced up to 20 years for each count of wire fraud.

• Related: Frankfort Professor Indicted On Wire Fraud Charges: U.S. Attorney

In addition to the prison sentence, Coleman must pay restitution in the amount of $490,528, according to the news release.

Coleman used her position as volunteer executive director of the student organization to withdraw cash and issue checks for her personal benefit, including trips to the Caribbean, according to the news release.

During the fraud scheme, which lasted from 2011 to 2016, Coleman separately worked as a dean and professor at various colleges of pharmacy, according to the news release.

Coleman tried to hide the fraud by submitting false and misleading reports that concealed the withdrawals, according to the news release. When a new person was appointed to replace Coleman as executive director, Coleman delayed turning over access to the organization’s bank accounts so that she could continue spending the money for her personal benefit, according to the release.

“Coleman’s offense is particularly egregious because she was supposed to be the adult in the room — the faculty member entrusted with overseeing the student organization’s accounts – but instead used the organization’s funds as her own piggy bank,” Assistant U.S. Attorney L. Heidi Manschreck argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum. “As a result of her scheme, the organization was deprived of funds that were supposed to support its laudable mission, and not to line Coleman’s pockets.”