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A former clerk at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai is expected to plead guilty in federal court to a charge accusing her of stealing more than $300,000 from the federal government.
Federal prosecutors filed papers in U.S. District Court on Friday charging Rowenalynn P. Yorkman with wire fraud. The charge accuses Yorkman, 48, of Kekaha,
of stealing at least $364,838 between January 2011 and January 2017.
Prosecutors say as a travel clerk for the Navy, Yorkman tracked and reviewed orders of government workers traveling from PMRF. She also reviewed and approved the government workers’ travel claims for reimbursement and sent the payments to their bank accounts by electronic transfer.
The wire fraud charge accuses Yorkman of using a co-worker’s authorization to change and create bogus reimbursement claims and rerouting the payments to her own bank account. Yorkman didn’t have the authority to change travel claims or the destinations of the reimbursement payments. She did have the authority to approve the changes, which she did.
In addition to pleading guilty, Yorkman is expected to agree to forfeit to the government the amount of money she stole.
The court has yet to schedule a hearing for Yorkman’s guilty plea.