A former Tyson Foods employee Friday pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas Kenneth Elser said.
Brenda Blair, 47, defrauded her employer of $551,434.52, according to a statement from Elser’s office. Blair entered her guilty plea during an appearance in the U.S. District Court in Fayetteville.
Beginning in June 2005 and continuing until about Sept. 19, 2014, the Gentry woman carried out the scheme by accessing the company's health insurance benefits plan, of which she was manager, according to the statement. She generated fraudulent wire transfers using names of participants of the insurance plan as the recipients of wire payments from the plan, while using her own bank accounts for the receiving accounts of the wire transfers.
Blair was a Tyson Foods employee for more than 25 years and last held the position of special benefits plan manager.
Read Saturday's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.