A Springfield woman faces prison time after stealing $2.5 million and lying on her tax returns.

Susan A. Satterlee of Springfield pleaded guilty on Nov. 5 to wire fraud, embezzlement and income tax evasion that occurred while she worked at a Springfield consulting firm. The prosecution in her case alleges Satterlee continued her misdeeds for several months after being confronted.

According to court records, the FBI began investigating Satterlee in March 2014 after learning that her bank account received several large deposits from the business account of her then-employer, Development Services Group, a housing consulting firm in Springfield. After each large deposit into Satterlee’s account, she would withdraw large amounts of cash and wire money to various casinos, court records show.

In August 2014, the FBI interviewed George Dinges of Leland Grove, who owns Development Services Group, and determined that Dinges had fired Satterlee in July 2014 after his bank alerted him to the transfers. Dinges told the FBI that Satterlee admitted to the embezzlement and had offered to pay him back. Ultimately, the FBI uncovered more than $2.5 million that Satterlee had stolen between June 2009 and July 2014. The criminal complaint says she used more than $1 million of the money at casinos, used more than $400,000 to pay off debts and withdrew another $400,000 in cash.

The complaint also accuses accuses Satterlee of transferring ownership of her house at 189 E. Andrew Road in Springfield to her husband’s name in September 2014, after investigators confronted her.

In February 2015, Dinges told the FBI that he had found further transfers between September 2014 and February 2015 from his business account to Capital One and Verizon Wireless accounts belonging to Satterlee. The complaint alleges that the transfers were not automatic payments that could have been previously set and forgotten, meaning that Satterlee allegedly continued to embezzle funds even after the FBI confronted her in August 2014.

Satterlee is charged with wire fraud because she sent some of the embezzled money across state lines.

A separate complaint against Satterlee alleges that she lied on her 2013 federal tax return, failing to report $951,727 of income from the embezzled funds. The complaint says Satterlee owes the federal government nearly $341,000 in unpaid income taxes.

U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough was overseeing the case until earlier this month, when she removed herself because of a potential conflict of interest. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Mills has been assigned to replace Myerscough.

This is not Satterlee’s first time with money trouble. Court records show Susan and John Satterlee filed for bankruptcy in 2003, 2006, 2007 and again earlier this year. During their 2007 bankruptcy, a former business partner accused the pair of using his business credit card for their personal expenses and then changing the mailing address for the card’s monthly statements to hide the $30,000 debt they had racked up in his name.

“Satterlee allegedly continued to embezzle funds even after the FBI confronted her in August 2014.”

While the Satterlees promised in January 2007 to pay back their former business partner in exchange for him not taking legal action, they defaulted on their promissory note by March of that year. The partner sued them in Sangamon County Circuit Court and later convinced the federal bankruptcy court not to allow the Satterlees to discharge their debt to him in their bankruptcy case. Part of the debt is still outstanding.

Satterlee awaits sentencing, but she is on home detention and has surrendered her passport. Douglas Quivey, Satterlee’s courtappointed public defender, says it’s too early to tell how much prison time she could be facing, but he said it’s “theoretically a whole lot.” He adds that the prosecution has agreed to recommend punishment on the low end of the sentencing guidelines. U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass, the prosecutor in Satterlee’s case, couldn’t be reached immediately for comment.

Contact Patrick Yeagle at [email protected].