Warwick Bookkeeper Who Stole $760K Off To Federal Prison

PROVIDENCE — A Warwick woman who embezzled three-quarters of a million from a law firm owned by her own godmother has been sentenced to serve five years in federal prison.

Sarah Gaulin, 39, while working as a bookkeeper and office manager for Hamel, Waxler, Allen & Collins, "devised and executed multiple schemes" to steal $740,953 over the course of seven years, Acting U.S. Atty. Richard B. Myrus announced on Tuesday. On Oct. 13, 2020, Gaulin pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and one count each of aggravated identity theft and wire fraud.

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In addition to embezzling from the law firm, Gaulin admitted to lying to a bank to obtain a $250,000 mortgage for a home at 20 Liverpool Drive. Gaulin submitted doctored statements to Coastway Community Bank showing a positive balance in her bank account when in fact she was routinely overdrawn. She told the bank she was paying her landlord with her work income when in fact she was paying the rent with money she stole from her employer. Finally, Gaulin collected nearly $20,000 in temporary disability insurance payments from the government when she was not sick or injured and still working full-time.

A federal indictment alleges that Gaulin forged her godmother's name on checks from the firm to pay her own creditors, and used stolen money to pay for her housing, her car, her cable bill, and her cell phone. She paid off law firm credit cards that she had used on her own behalf. She created a fake vendor in Quickbooks to make it appear as if payments to herself were legitimate. Gaulin spent money on luxury items including gold Cartier bracelets and designer handbags.

In a detailed report on the case, WPRI-TV describes a woman who created a trail of destruction and betrayed those closest to her. Gaulin stole from a law firm where her own godmother, Eva Marie Mancuso, is an attorney and partner. Manusco, who is former chairperson of the R.I. Board of Education, and Gaulin's husband, Sean Feeney, delivered sharp victim statements in the courtroom, seeking prison time for Gaulin. Gaulin’s attorney sought leniency and said her client, a mother of two, needed to spend time with her children and had PTSD from abuse suffered in a previous relationship. Ultimately, the judge didn't buy it.

U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith on Tuesday sentenced Gaulin to 60 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. She was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $760,541.