MADISON - A federal judge Tuesday approved a consent judgment in which a Gratiot woman agreed to pay her former employer, MiTek Corp., and others $2 million to settle a computer fraud and abuse claim.
The judgment settled a suit and a countersuit that alleged significant theft and long-term sexual harassment to which neither party admitted to any wrongdoing.
According to court documents:
MiTek, Atlas Sound L.P., and Innovative Electronic Designs LLC hired Teresa Johnson as their credit group leader to obtain payments from customers who owed the firms money.
MiTek, an audio products firm, has operations in Winslow, Monroe and other locations. Atlas Sound and IED have operations in other states.
Beginning at least in September 2013, Johnson allegedly began instructing customers by email to send automatic clearing house transactions to a Well Fargo Bank account that was not the companies' account but her own.
Johnson's supervisor uncovered the scheme in July 2016 when she looked into why certain customers were always behind on their bills. When she called one of the customers, she was told they send money to a Wells Fargo Bank account per Johnson's instructions.
The firms did not have accounts with Wells Fargo and placed Johnson on administrative leave. During an investigation, Johnson admitted the scheme to police and that she had wrongfully taken and spent more than $500,000 from her employers.
The firms sued Johnson in federal court last year and Johnson counterclaimed that she had been sexually harassed by company president Loyd Ivey from 2010 to 2016.
In a document Johnson's attorney filed in court:
Johnson owned, bred and sold Gypsy Vanner horses and alleged in September 2010 that Ivey and a female companion came to her farm near Gratiot to view the animals. Johnson declined Ivey's invitation to join him and his companion in Monroe for dinner. When Ivey allegedly called Johnson from the restaurant saying, "we want you for dessert," Johnson took the innuendo to mean joining them in a sexual threesome.
Johnson's house burned down in February 2011, and Ivey allegedly offered her any house she wanted if she had a sexual relationship with him.
Johnson called Ivey's advances unwelcomed, including when he allegedly exposed himself to her while at an apartment in an airplane hangar in Monroe where the company kept aircraft.
Johnson's suit sought damages and costs.
Mitek's attorneys asked that Johnson's counterclaim be dismissed for procedural defects and because the sexual conduct allegations she made were not relevant to the financial fraud she allegedly perpetrated, complicating the nature of the suit against her.
Finding a likelihood that Mitek would ultimately win its suit, District Judge James Peterson issued an injunction prohibiting Johnson from further selling off horses or other property which she previously had done to secure a bank loan.
Other court documents stated that the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois had begun a criminal investigation of Johnson for activities alleged in Mitek's suit. The U.S. attorney sought a court order requiring Johnson to sell her assets and surrender the proceeds to U.S. authorities as restitution to parties to the suit.
No record of criminal charges were available on online records in federal court for northern Illinois or western Wisconsin.
Tuesday's court order allowed:
• Johnson's former employers to take possession of Johnson's horses and sell them; and,
• Johnson's attorneys to turn over to the firms $38,584 remaining in Johnson's trust account, except for $2,000 to be available for the care of the horses until they can be sold.
Johnson's attorney, Jordan Loeb, had no comment on the suit's allegations or the settlement.
A call to one of MiTek's attorneys, Danielle Nardick, was not returned by deadline.
The judgment settled a suit and a countersuit that alleged significant theft and long-term sexual harassment to which neither party admitted to any wrongdoing.
According to court documents:
MiTek, Atlas Sound L.P., and Innovative Electronic Designs LLC hired Teresa Johnson as their credit group leader to obtain payments from customers who owed the firms money.
MiTek, an audio products firm, has operations in Winslow, Monroe and other locations. Atlas Sound and IED have operations in other states.
Beginning at least in September 2013, Johnson allegedly began instructing customers by email to send automatic clearing house transactions to a Well Fargo Bank account that was not the companies' account but her own.
Johnson's supervisor uncovered the scheme in July 2016 when she looked into why certain customers were always behind on their bills. When she called one of the customers, she was told they send money to a Wells Fargo Bank account per Johnson's instructions.
The firms did not have accounts with Wells Fargo and placed Johnson on administrative leave. During an investigation, Johnson admitted the scheme to police and that she had wrongfully taken and spent more than $500,000 from her employers.
The firms sued Johnson in federal court last year and Johnson counterclaimed that she had been sexually harassed by company president Loyd Ivey from 2010 to 2016.
In a document Johnson's attorney filed in court:
Johnson owned, bred and sold Gypsy Vanner horses and alleged in September 2010 that Ivey and a female companion came to her farm near Gratiot to view the animals. Johnson declined Ivey's invitation to join him and his companion in Monroe for dinner. When Ivey allegedly called Johnson from the restaurant saying, "we want you for dessert," Johnson took the innuendo to mean joining them in a sexual threesome.
Johnson's house burned down in February 2011, and Ivey allegedly offered her any house she wanted if she had a sexual relationship with him.
Johnson called Ivey's advances unwelcomed, including when he allegedly exposed himself to her while at an apartment in an airplane hangar in Monroe where the company kept aircraft.
Johnson's suit sought damages and costs.
Mitek's attorneys asked that Johnson's counterclaim be dismissed for procedural defects and because the sexual conduct allegations she made were not relevant to the financial fraud she allegedly perpetrated, complicating the nature of the suit against her.
Finding a likelihood that Mitek would ultimately win its suit, District Judge James Peterson issued an injunction prohibiting Johnson from further selling off horses or other property which she previously had done to secure a bank loan.
Other court documents stated that the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois had begun a criminal investigation of Johnson for activities alleged in Mitek's suit. The U.S. attorney sought a court order requiring Johnson to sell her assets and surrender the proceeds to U.S. authorities as restitution to parties to the suit.
No record of criminal charges were available on online records in federal court for northern Illinois or western Wisconsin.
Tuesday's court order allowed:
• Johnson's former employers to take possession of Johnson's horses and sell them; and,
• Johnson's attorneys to turn over to the firms $38,584 remaining in Johnson's trust account, except for $2,000 to be available for the care of the horses until they can be sold.
Johnson's attorney, Jordan Loeb, had no comment on the suit's allegations or the settlement.
A call to one of MiTek's attorneys, Danielle Nardick, was not returned by deadline.