CEDAR RAPIDS – A man, formerly the Vice President of Bartleson Masonry, Inc. in Forest City, Iowa, who embezzled more than $40,000 from an employee retirement plan, pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.
Anthony Bartleson, 42, from Forest City, Iowa, was convicted of one count of embezzlement from an employee benefit plan.
In a plea agreement, Bartleson admitted that, while serving as the Vice President and Treasurer of Bartleson Masonry, Inc., he was responsible for withholding money from employees’ paychecks, which he was then supposed to forward to an investment company for deposit into each employee’s Individual Retirement Account. Bartleson further admitted that in 2006, 2007, and 2008, while he withheld money from employees’ paychecks, he did not forward that money to the investment company, but, instead, he used the money for his own benefit, the benefit of others, and to pay business expenses for Bartleson Masonry, Inc. Bartleson admitted he embezzled over $25,000 from the employee benefit plan by withholding money from paychecks and also admitted he embezzled more than $15,000 from the plan by failing to pay employer matching contributions to the benefit plan over the same time period.
Sentencing before United States District Court Mark Bennett will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Bartleson remains free on conditions of release set by the District Court. Bartleson faces a possible maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, $100 in special assessments, and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and was investigated by the Employee Benefits Security Administration of the U.S. Department of Labor.
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