Former Wall Co-Op General Manager Sentenced for Embezzling $2.1 Million

 

SAN ANGELO, TX — Former Wall Co-Op general manager Mina Louise Abbott was sentenced to 42 months in prison Thursday at the O.C. Fisher Federal Building and United States Courthouse.

Abbott admitted to embezzling more than $2.1 million from the Wall Co-Op over the course of about three years. She was ordered to pay $2,146,885.19 in restitution.

More than 50 members of the Wall community were present in the courtroom, and more were able to listen to the proceedings in two overflow rooms. The Wall Co-Op has over 400 members.

Two community members gave victim impact statements, one of whom alleged Abbott actually took more than $3 million.

The prosecuting attorney said the FBI's analysis found the overwhelming majority of the money was spent on retail goods.

He said some of the money was spent on personal trips or was just taken in cash, but the majority of it was online shopping, noting the hallway entering her home was filled with boxes from the floor to the ceiling.

Judge James Hendrix went above the advisory guidelines for Abbott, who had no prior convictions or arrests, and ordered three years of supervised release when she completes her prison sentence.

Abbott’s attorney had requested a sentence of 180 days served on house confinement, which was denied.

However, Abbott’s request to surrender at a later date was granted. She was given 42 days to surrender to the court by 2 p.m. Oct. 10.

Impact on the Wall community

Frankie Schwartz, the vice president of the Wall Co-Op, gave a statement and said the co-op has been part of the foundation of the community since it was formed in 1950.

Abbott worked at the Wall Co-Op for about 25 years, including the last three years as general manager and treasurer.

"She used that trust as a knife to stab us in the back," Schwartz said.

He alleged she "tried to tear the co-op apart" while covering her tracks by pitting employees against each other.

"It was amazing how vindictive she could be," he said.

Schwartz said Abbott previously served as the treasurer of another organization, which also began missing money. The judge said he was unable to consider that allegation in his ruling because no evidence had been presented on it.

Another community member, Kelli Inge, detailed the damage that Abbott caused.

"She took money by maxing out our lines of credit and exacerbated an already fragile financial situation," Inge said.

Abbott also took money that had been allotted for loan payments, Inge said, which has set the co-op back and forced it to pay $208,000 in interest so far.

Abbott then destroyed records, which made the recovery process more difficult, Inge said.

Some retail partners will no longer do business with the co-op, she said.

"The recovery from the financial impact is nothing compared to the damage to our reputation," Inge said.

Abbott was making about $120,000 a year in salary and benefits, according to Inge.

While reviewing court documents, Hendrix noted that Abbott wrote 334 checks to herself, and she made 324 ATM withdrawals.

"The fact that you were so flippant with the money, spending it on largely worthless stuff, it's shameless and hard to wrap my mind around," the judge said.

Hendrix said that Abbott's continued pattern of theft for three years, along with her abuse of public trust, were aggravating factors in his decision.

He said the fact that she stole from farmers made it worse.

"A farmers co-op in West Texas is borderline sacred," Hendrix said.

Abbott recently offered to let the co-op try and sell many of the items, which are in a storage facility. Hendrix said he was skeptical how much money could ultimately be recovered.

In addition to $200 per month restitution payments, which will begin 60 days after Abbott's release from prison, the Wall Co-Op should soon receive over $69,000 that was recovered from Abbott by the Tom Green County Sheriff's Office.

Subscribe to the LIVE! Daily

The LIVE! Daily is the "newspaper to your email" for San Angelo. Each content-packed edition has weather, the popular Top of the Email opinion and rumor mill column, news around the state of Texas, news around west Texas, the latest news stories from San Angelo LIVE!, events, and the most recent obituaries. The bottom of the email contains the most recent rants and comments. The LIVE! daily is emailed 5 days per week. On Sundays, subscribers receive the West Texas Real Estate LIVE! email.

Required

Most Recent Videos

Comments

That is still not enough time...not even close.....to punish her for what she has done here.  No wonder some people think Whiteys get away with stuff....because, well, they do.....

If you hadn't noticed everyone in San Angelo gets away with things, you don't have to play a race card to prove it either, which by the way is pretty disrespectful and very 1920 of you. While I do agree she should have received at least 10 years maybe 20, you could find a better way of getting your point across. Hopefully the farming community has some sort of vigilante justice planned for her release.

Why you have to make a racist comment about someone when its the justice system that treats these type crimes as non violent on any race.

Same goes for the 3 amigos that ripped off wally world.

Putting a frail boned white woman on $200 monthly restitution payments, with a criminal record, is like making Superman break rocks for Lex Luthor in kryptonite laced shackles. She won't be languishing with snacks, reading books, watching movies, and hooking up. She's going to the bottom of the social rungs to work that money off in front of everyone!

I wonder If she will bump into old Funky Monkey himself while she's on a taxpayer funder vacation? He may be traveling from prison to prison on his tent crusade and revival. Not a stiff enough sentence, should have been at least triple that.

Too light of sentences for these so call non violent crimes.

System thinks, oh they just stole some money but didnt hurt anyone.

These thieves sentences should be based on the amount of money stole and lives it effected.

Start with FJB and his VP sugalotacoxs(:(:(: 

 

Come on guys. Sometimes cats lick the butter. And who do we blame for leaving it out on the counter?

Ourselves.

How in hell can this idiotically light sentence be justified?  I know most here consider me to be a chronic lefty, but I am no fan of crime whether it be violent or non-violent.  My attitude regarding my jailbird stepson should constitute proof of that, and his crimes were all non-violent.

Something is very wrong here.

 

You sound like literally Hitler right now. Even Casey Anthony didn't get this harsh of a sentence. Even so, causation not being equal to correlation, isn't Wall the place where everyone's a swinger?

Comparing this inadequate application of justice to Anthony's even worse example is idiotic.

The Wall association you make is even worse, as difficult as it is to believe.

He must be the only one that doesn't know about Iron Horse Dr in Wall. Too much time spent surfing those hard left propaganda websites to realize the reality of life.

Well, if it's that hard to believe that human beings would skirt around social conventions to have some creative sex, imagine the coping if little people came out of the sky and told you that you're an idiot. Because the sky is kind of infinite...

The movie "Eyes Wide Shut" was just about people having sex. Egads! Gadzooks! When we think about the reality of life, we should deeply consider the self-deception of men and women whose partners are cheating, and reflect on what this tells us about human nature...

For those of us who live in parts of the world where gaslighting denials about everything from workplace polyamory to black budget (coke, hookers, and frickin' lasers,) funding are the norm, that might be the case—for our way of life... 🤷‍♂️

Post a comment to this article here: