Woman embezzles over $900,000 from family-owned business, officials say
By Zach Rainey
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CONOVER, North Carolina (WYFF) — A woman is behind bars after she was convicted of embezzling over $900,000 from her employer in North Carolina.
According to court documents, from 2016 to 2021, Michelle Wilshire was employed by a family-owned business in Conover. During this time, Wilshire was in charge of the company’s Comdata account – a third-party payment processing and debit card issuing service – which the company used for fleet management and payment services for its drivers.
Officials said Wilshire executed the scheme by issuing multiple Comdata prepaid debit cards in her name and in the names of other individuals, including former company employees, fictitious employees, and current employees who were not aware that the cards existed. Wilshire then caused Comdata to load funds onto the prepaid debit cards, which she then withdrew through ATMs.
Between November 2017, and July 2021, Wilshire withdrew more than $528,000 from prepaid Comdata debit cards, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office Western District of North Carolina.
In addition to the debit card scheme, Wilshire embezzled company funds by using Comdata’s Comchek and Comchek Mobile services to issue checks in her name and to make multiple wire transfers into her personal bank account, totaling over $315,000. Wilshire also transferred more than $58,000 of the company’s funds through Comdata into the bank account of a former company employee.
Court documents also show that Wilshire prepared and filed individual income tax returns for tax years 2017 through 2021, which did not include the additional funds received through her embezzlement scheme.
On July 15, 2024, Wilshire pleaded guilty to wire fraud and making and subscribing a false tax return.
On June 17, 2025, Russ Ferguson, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, announced that Wilshire was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison followed by two years of supervised release for the charges.
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