A Great Falls woman who admitted to defrauding two businesses of about $500,000 while working as a bookkeeper to pay her personal expenses was sentenced Dec. 11 to 25 months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Tara Durnell, 63, pleaded guilty in July to wire fraud and to mail fraud.

Chief U.S. District Judge Brian M. Morris presided in the federal court in Great Falls.

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The court also ordered $492,309 in total restitution. Durnell was remanded into custody.

Prosecutors alleged that beginning in at least 1997, Durnell embezzled from her employer, Kronebusch Electric, Inc.,KEI, a small company in Conrad, where she worked as a bookkeeper, to fund her personal lifestyle.

Durnell used her access to pre-signed company checks and company bank accounts to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars toward personal credit card debt, personal car loan payments and debts belonging to family members, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

To conceal her scheme, Durnell used her access to the company’s accounting software to hide her illicit transactions and make them appear like legitimate businesses expenses.

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In total, Durnell embezzled almost $500,000 from KEI, according to court documents.

Durnell left employment with KEI when the scheme was discovered and found work as a bookkeeper with Mitchell’s Crash Repair in Great Falls, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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In January 2022, Durnell again used her access to the business’s pre-signed checks and bank accounts and to pay tens of thousands of dollars toward personal expenses. Durnell embezzled about $15,491 from Mitchell’s Crash Repair, according to court documents.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey K. Starnes prosecuted the case.  The FBI, Montana Division of Criminal Investigation and Great Falls Police Department conducted the investigation.