DALLAS — Helen K. Sullivan, 71, of Commerce, Texas, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jorge A. Solis to 42 months in federal prison following her guilty plea in August 2008 to one count of mail fraud, announced acting U.S. Attorney James T. Jacks of the Northern District of Texas.  In addition, Judge Solis ordered that Sullivan pay $1,209,713.90 in restitution.  She must surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by April 15, 2009.

Between January 2000 and September 2006, Sullivan embezzled more than $1.2 million from Lawyers Title Insurance Corporation, where she was employed as an escrow officer in the company’s Dallas, Texas, office.  Over more than six years, Sullivan fraudulently wrote more than 160 checks on escrow accounts she was handling and mailed the withdrawn funds as payments to her personal credit card accounts.

Sullivan admitted using a substantial portion of the $1.2 million she defrauded from her employer to fund the business operations of S Industries LLC, by purchasing chemicals from Pyranha, Inc.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen P. Fahey.