Debt Collection CFO Going to Prison

MISSOULA, Mont. (CN) - The CFO of a debt collection agency was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for tax evasion and ordered to pay $159,000 in restitution, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Leslie Jean McIntosh, 58, of Columbia Falls, Mont., was chief financial officer of FITEC LLC, a Kalispell-based collection agency that specialized in commercial collections and accounts receivable. She also had access to accounts with associated companies FITEC Inc. and Lazare Inc., prosecutors said.

The owners of the companies discovered financial irregularities in 2008 and ordered an audit, which discovered that from 2006 to 2008 more than $131,000 had been deposited from the companies into McIntosh's personal account and the account of another person without authorization, according to an offer of proof.

Prosecutors said McIntosh failed to declare the money on her W-2 forms for those years, and said the other person told authorities that McIntosh told him the checks to him were to be hidden from the IRS.

In December of 2006, McIntosh's CPA license was revoked after she was convicted of a previous federal felony, according to the U.S. attorney.

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