Denver – The U.S. Attorney s Office for the District of Colorado announced that Rose Horne formerly of Fort Collins, Colorado pleaded guilty today to mail fraud and money laundering. Horne was indicted on March 11, 2014, and was a fugitive until her arrest in California in June 2020. She is now scheduled to be sentenced in federal court in Denver before U.S. District Court Judge Robert E. Blackburn on August 19, 2021.
According to court documents, Horne worked as a bookkeeper for a small family-run plumbing business in Fort Collins for 27 years. From at least October 2005 through June 2011, Horne devised a scheme to steal over $1 million from her employer. As part of her scheme, Horne wrote approximately 170 unauthorized checks to herself from her employer s payroll bank account. Horne used unauthorized checks drawn on her employer s general business accounts to pay her personal balances as well as other personal bills. Horne forged the owner s signature on some checks or presente