A 60-year-old bookkeeper for a union of plumbers across Lake, Seminole, Osceola and Orange counties has pled guilty to embezzling over $300,000 during a five-year period of employment.
On Monday, United States Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Roger B. Handberg announced that Denise E. Kovacs has pled guilty to embezzling funds while she was employed at Plumbers AFL-CIO Local 803.
According to court records, Kovacs was the bookkeeper of the union, which represents plumbers and pipefitters in central Florida, for nearly five years. During her employment, Kovacs stole $43,777 in cash from union dues and charged $261,126 in expenses on the union’s credit card.
To conceal her theft, Kovacs altered internal business records and effectively kept union officials unaware about her ongoing embezzlement efforts.
Kovacs, who is from Clermont, faces a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison. She will be sentenced on June 21, 2023, by U.S. District Judge Wendy W. Berger.
According to its website, the union was founded in 1920 and represents more than 700 members across central Florida.