BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — A former bookkeeper at an Alabama-based roofing company has pleaded guilty to embezzling about $1.2 million from the business and faces up to 20 years in prison.

According to court documents obtained by Roofing Contractor and filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama - Southern Division, Robbie Treiber pleaded guilty to three counts of wire fraud.

The information felony for the case filed Feb. 6 states that from 1996 “and continuing to in or about April 2017…Robbie Treiber devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud Quality Architectural Metal & Roofing, and to obtain money and property belonging to Quality Architectural Metal & Roofing, by means of materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises.”

Roofing Contractor has reached out to Quality Architectural Metal & Roofing for comment but has not received a response.

According to its website, Quality Architectural Metal & Roofing “specializes in all types of roofing installation, including complex commercial roofing projects in Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee and Georgia.”

Treiber created at personal checking account called “Robbie Treiber D.B.A. Quality Roofing Services and/or Robbie Treiber D.B.A. Quality Roofing In Architectural Metal Services,” according to the information felony.

Treiber would then deposit checks into that account that were mailed by customers of Quality Architectural Metal & Roofing “rather than depositing those checks into her employer’s account as expected.”

“It was further part of the scheme and artifice that defendant Treiber would and did cause false entries and did cause false entries to be made in the financial records of Quality Architectural Metal & Roofing to facilitate and conceal her embezzlement of money,” the information felony states.

The information felony states that Treiber unlawfully deposited 495 checks into her personal bank account between December 2010 and April 2017.

U.S. Attorneys note that the wire fraud occurred because Treiber “caused an interstate wire communication in furtherance of her scheme when she deposited each of these checks into her personal bank account because her bank’s clearing process for each check required communication between computers located in Alabama and other states.”

The maximum sentence Treiber faces is 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, supervised release of three years plus fees. She also could be ordered to pay all the money back in restitution. 

Treiber was arraigned Feb. 14. A sentencing date has not been set.

Monroe Porter, president of PROOF Management Consultants and contributor to Roofing Contractor, recently wrote that one in 10 roofing contractors face internal theft and provided some tips to avoid being ripped off.