BREAKING: Wall Co-Op Gin Manager Pleads Guilty to Stealing Millions

ABILENE — Former Wall Co-Op Gin manager Mina Louise Abbott has entered a guilty plea in Federal Court in Abilene and found that Abbott embezzled about $1,935,190.46. She hid her embezzlement by not posting the checks to the General Ledger and by imputing false information in the Wall Co-Op accounting system.

San Angelo LIVE! broke the story first.  Read it here. 

Abbott embezzled the money by writing checks on the Wall Co-Op’s bank account at First Financial Bank to herself or to cash.

An audit of the Wall Co-Op’s debit cards showed a similar embezzlement scheme by Abbott where she used two debit cards that belonged to the Co-Op and from May 1, 2021, until April 30, 2023, she made personal, unauthorized charges in the amount of $176,569.72. Those included use of the cards while Abbott was on a personal trip to Kentucky, Tennessee, and Boston, Massachusetts.

In the end, Abbott admitted to and agrees that she embezzled a total of $2,146,885.19. She also agrees that money should be returned to the Wall Co-Op.

Abbott’s attorney, Sean Robert McKenna, works at Spencer Fane LLP in Dallas and the prosecuting attorney is one that San Angelo might have heard of in Jeffery Haag, the same attorney that took down former San Angelo Police Chief Tim Vasquez.

The maximum penalty for Abbott is imprisonment of a period not to exceed 15 years but the plea bargain is for up to 60 months, a fine not to exceed $250,000 or twice any pecuniary gain to Abbott or loss to the Wall Co-Op, a term of supervised release of not more than three years, a mandatory special assessment of $100, cost of incarceration and supervision, and forfeiture of property.

The plea was agreed to in 28 seconds.

The sentencing date has not been determined and Abbott is currently out on a personal recognizance bond.