Former employee charged with embezzling $150k from Jasper healthcare organization

A federal grand jury indicted Michele Rose, 61, of Jasper, on twelve counts of wire fraud and twelve counts of forging checks related to an alleged near-decade-long scheme to embezzle over $150,000 from a nonprofit healthcare organization headquartered in Jasper. The indictment was unsealed on February 28, 2023, following Rose’s arrest and initial appearance.

According to court documents, Rose served as the Medical Staff Coordinator for a nonprofit for many years. During her employment, Rose would occasionally make business-related purchases with her personal funds, for which the business would reimburse her upon proof of receipt.

From March 2011 to December 2020, Rose allegedly used her position to embezzle $153,769.00 by writing 165 fraudulent checks to herself for reimbursement of purchases that she never made. Rose made numerous false representations to organization leadership to obtain signed, blank checks to reimburse herself for nonexistent expenses. Once the blank checks were signed, Rose wrote them to herself for various amounts and deposited the funds into her personal account. Rose then fraudulently concealed the fake reimbursements by omitting them from financial reports to organizational leadership.

If convicted, Rose faces up to 30 years imprisonment. A federal district court judge will determine the actual sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

This information was released by the United States Attorney’s Office Southern District of Indiana. According to a spokesperson for the office, they did not release the name of the healthcare organization because it is not specifically named in court filings. However, Ms. Rose did work for Memorial Hospital and Health Care.