Former Dresser-Rand employee sentenced in theft case

[William Wilson]

Former Dresser-Rand employee sentenced in theft case

BY LOUIS DiPIETRO, The Times Herald 07/27/2005

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Advertisement BUFFALO — A former Dresser-Rand payroll supervisor was sentenced in federal court Tuesday to 2 1/2 years in prison and ordered to pay $1.08 million in restitution for stealing from the company. Patricia Rahr, 59, of Portville was sentenced in accordance to the plea agreement she signed April 6, acting U.S. Attorney Kathleen Mehltretter said Tuesday in a press statement. While employed as a payroll supervisor by Dresser-Rand in Olean, Rahr used her position to make computer transfers of Dresser-Rand funds from the company to a personal bank account she controlled, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Campana. Rahr, who was fired from Dresser-Rand in mid-2004 after the company conducted an internal investigation, was said to have not reported more than $998,000 of stolen money on her federal income tax returns through 2003, and then stole an additional $30,000 in 2004. Mr. Campana said her yearly thefts ranged from about $68,000 to a high of about $128,000 in 2003. According to the plea agreement, the unpaid income tax was more than $279,000. Following the investigation by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service, Rahr pleaded guilty April 6 before U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny to filing false income tax returns for the five tax years from 1999 through 2004. Rahr was ordered Tuesday to hand over personal property including a home at 83 Brooklyn St. in Portville, another home at 89 Hazlemere Ave. near Lime Lake in Machias, as well as motor vehicles. The forfeiture will amount to approximately $160,000, Mr. Campana said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard D. Kaufman, head of the U.S. Attorney's Office's Asset Forfeiture Unit, said he expects Dresser-Rand to receive the entire amount of the forfeiture proceeds as an offset to the amount owed to the company. In ordering restitution, Judge Skretny set the figure at $1,083,509, an amount that includes about $41,000 in accounting and legal fees paid by Dresser-Rand as a result of the thefts. Judge Skretny called Rahr's acts "exceptionally serious," adding the thefts were motivated by greed. The judge rejected Rahr's assertion that her motive in the thefts was to help others, including family members, with necessary expenses. The judge emphasized that Rahr's thefts violated the trust placed in her by Dresser-Rand and harmed her fellow employees. Rahr "acknowledged responsibility for the thefts, apologized to Dresser-Rand and thanked the federal case agents for their professionalism in the investigation," the Justice Department said. Adam Nightingale, director of human resources for Dresser-Rand's North American Operations, said this morning the company would have no comment on the case.

©The Times Herald, Olean, N.Y. 2005

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