A former payroll manager has pleaded guilty to wire fraud after embezzling over $419,000 from her employer, a security services company in Norfolk. Courtney Johnson-Gregory, 47, admitted to the crime in federal court yesterday.
According to court documents, Johnson-Gregory exploited her position, which granted her access to the company’s bank accounts and the ability to modify employee payment information, to carry out the elaborate scheme between 2022 and 2023.
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The fraud was uncovered in February 2023 when a routine payroll system review revealed discrepancies in company check sequences. Subsequent analysis of banking records exposed hundreds of unrecorded checks paid to inactive former employees.
Further investigation of the company’s payroll system logs revealed that Johnson-Gregory had manipulated direct deposit information, changing routing and account numbers for various former employees. Using her login credentials, she reactivated employee profiles, initiated unauthorized payments, and then deleted the payment records to conceal her actions.
Over a year, from February 2022 to February 2023, Johnson-Gregory executed over 100 transfers from the company’s accounts to her personal bank account and hundreds of unauthorized automated clearing house (ACH) transfers. The total amount embezzled included $136,145.68 through physical checks and $283,064.62 through electronic transfers.
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Johnson-Gregory is scheduled to be sentenced on September 5, 2025, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum.
U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Erik S. Siebert, and Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Office, Michael Feinberg, announced the plea after U.S. District Judge Arenda Wright Allen accepted it. Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Mozzi is prosecuting the case.
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