A Department of Defense employee
who claimed she worked an average 90 hours per week, 52 weeks a year, for 17 years faces up to 15 years behind bars for taking home more than $1 million in overtime pay.
Michelle M. Holt, a civilian secretary at the Air Force who worked at Joint Base Langley-Eustis in Hampton, Va.,
pleaded guilty this week to computer fraud and theft of government property after she included additional overtime hours in time sheets dating back to 2001
.
She picked up almost $14,800 in overtime pay in 2002 and eventually claimed almost $120,000 in overtime pay in 2017 when her base salary was $51,324. In total, she raked in an extra $1.4 million in overtime pay clocking an average of 90 hours a week for 52 weeks over the past 10 years, court documents show.
P
rosecutors
said
Holt initially claimed she committed fraud during one pay period, but left her job shortly after data from 10 years was brought forward.
“Federal service is a public trust that demands of employees the highest degree of integrity in the workplace,” said G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, which prosecuted the case. “As stewards of that trust, we must ensure that those in such positions are held fully accountable for breaches that put personal enrichment in place of public service.”
Holt’s attorney claims that she
regrets
her actions.
“She’s just very apologetic, very upset, knows that she’s done wrong,” said Holt’s attorney William Eric Johnson, according to the Washington Times. “At the end of the plea hearing yesterday she gave the U.S. attorney a hug. She’s been fully cooperative.”
