Former City of Kingman Employee Pleads Guilty to Theft of More than $1,000,000

KINGMAN – Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced 60-year-old Diane Maxine Richards pleaded guilty to stealing more than a million dollars from the City of Kingman.

Richards pleaded guilty to 4 counts of Theft, all class 2 felonies. In September 2015, Special Agents with the Attorney General's Office and ICE Homeland Security Investigations launched an investigation after financial institutions reported unusual activity involving Richards' bank accounts.

Investigators found Richards misused a City of Kingman credit card to pay for her personal expenses from July 2007 through January 2015. Those personal expenses include payments to Richards’ personal cell phone, utility, and car insurance bills. Richards submitted falsified invoices to account for the charges. She also used the City of Kingman credit card to pay off cash advances taken out at various casinos. The total amount Richards spent on the City of Kingman credit card is $121,862. Richards also misappropriated $991,727 from an Employee Benefits Trust account. 

Richards faces up to 9.25 years in prison. As part of her guilty plea, Richards will pay $1,113,589 in restitution to the City of Kingman. She will also forfeit her state retirement benefits.

Assistant Attorneys General Joseph Waters and Adam Schwartz prosecuted this case.

The judge deferred acceptance of the plea until sentencing which is set for October 04, 2017 at 2:30 pm.