On March 21, 2018, in the Western District of North Carolina, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) temporary contract employee Alicia Gambrell was indicted on eight counts of theft of Government funds.¹

According to the court documents, from about March 2016 through about April 2017, Gambrell was an employee of a temporary employment agency that had placed her at an IRS lockbox facility, located in Charlotte, North Carolina.²

An IRS lockbox is a facility operated by a federally insured bank that the IRS has contracted for the purpose of, among other things, processing Federal tax remittances. Federal tax remittances are payments made payable to the IRS and/or the U.S. Treasury Department in the form of checks and money orders mailed by taxpayers to designated post office boxes for processing. IRS lockbox facilities hire temporary employees through temporary employment agencies and then screens them to work in the lockbox performing various duties, such as opening incoming mail.³

While working at the IRS lockbox facility in Charlotte, Gambrell stole approximately 34 checks and money orders which had been made payable to the IRS and totaled approximately $57,000. She did so by altering the payee information on the checks and money orders to reflect her own name. For example, she changed "IRS" to "MRS" then inserted "Gambrell." She then either cashed the stolen and altered checks and money orders or deposited them into accounts in her name.⁴

If convicted, Gambrell could face a maximum of 10 years' imprisonment. Additional legal actions are anticipated.

¹ W.D.N.C. filed Mar. 21, 2018.
² Id.
³ Id.
⁴ Id.