Woman steals $1.7M from Oregon veterans group and buys gems and crystals, feds say
An Oregon woman took more than $1.7 million from a veterans group and spent the money on gems, crystals, statues, a pickup truck for a relative and on other purchases and expenses, officials said.
Cheryl Elizabeth Campos pleaded guilty April 15 to wire fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Oregon said in a news release.
The 61-year-old faces up to 20 years in prison, prosecutors said.
McClatchy News reached out to her attorney for comment April 16 and was awaiting a response.
Campos, from Dayton, served as a Department of Oregon Veterans of Foreign Wars quartermaster, handling finances, prosecutors said.
For at least 2 1/2 years, she used her position “to access their bank accounts and illegally transfer large sums of money to her personal accounts,” prosecutors said.
She covered personal expenses, bought a Toyota Tundra for a relative, and purchased “hundreds of crystals, semi-precious rocks, marbles, stones and statues,” according to prosecutors.
To hide what she was doing, she falsified records, including using software to obscure or offset the transfers, a court document said.
Sentencing is scheduled for July, prosecutors said, adding that Campos has agreed to pay restitution.
Dayton is about a 40-mile drive southwest from Portland.
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