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Valbridge Property's ex-office manager gets 51-month sentence Valbridge Property's ex-office manager gets 51-month sentence

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Online gambling addiction blamed for $1.8M theft from San Antonio property appraisal firm

By Patrick Danner, Staff writerNov 18, 2024

Former Valbridge Property Advisors office manager Jennifer E. Walker received a 51-month prison sentence Monday for stealing more than $1.8 million from the firm over a nine-year period.Bill Oxford/Getty Images

A San Antonio property appraisal firm's former office manager, who stole more than $1.8 million from it to feed a gambling addiction, is headed to federal prison for 51 months.

Jennifer E. Walker, who worked at Valbridge Property Advisors from 2012 to 2021, also must serve three years' supervised release and repay the stolen money as part of a sentence handed down Monday by U.S. District Judge Fred Biery.

Walker pleaded guilty to two counts of mail fraud earlier this year in connection with the theft. Six other counts were dropped as part of her plea agreement.

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Walker will remain free on a $20,000 unsecured bond until she has to report to prison by Feb. 10. Biery gave her the time to report so she can turn over the keys to her house and a $15,000 purse collection as part of her restitution.

RELATED: Ex-office manager at San Antonio appraisal firm pleads guilty to inflating her pay by nearly $1.9M

The theft started almost immediately after Walker joined Valbridge and continued for nine years, hampering the firm's growth for several years, senior manager Paul Grafe told the court during a victim's impact statement he delivered for the firm.

"We believe as an ownership group that she should serve one year in prison for each of the nine years that she stole from us, as well as paying restitution -- a sentence, to us, that proves our justice system is still in play, and the effort and time and financial burden that we have incurred does not get put aside," Grafe said.

The sentencing guidelines called for a prison term of 41 to 51 months, though Walker's lawyer, Thomas McHugh, asked the judge to sentence her to home confinement because she accepted responsibility for her crimes and because she had no previous criminal history.

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Biery opposed that, noting that Walker had made no effort to reimburse Valbridge for its losses prior to her sentencing.

Walker told Biery that she was addicted to online gambling, though Assistant U.S. Attorney Christina Playton said Walker made trips to Las Vegas and New Orleans to gamble.

Walker poured her winnings back into her gambling, McHugh said. She later told the judge that she spent some of the money on Louis Vuitton purses, including one for about $3,500.

Biery directed Walker, who was facing him from a lectern, to turn around and address the Valbridge officials she had "betrayed like Judas betrayed Jesus."

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"I want to sincerely apologize for my actions during my time with your company," she said, her voice cracking while she fought back tears. "Stealing money from you was not only wrong, but also a betrayal of the trust you placed in me. I deeply regret my behavior and harm it caused to you, your business and your families."

Valbridge entrusted Walker to handle all of its accounting and administrative processes, including semimonthly payroll and certifying wage and tax statements for filing with the IRS and Social Security Administration.

Walker fraudulently inflated her own pay in the payroll reports she sent to the company's bank, according to the charges. She stole about $24,000 her first year on the job, but the amount climbed to $280,000 and then more than $300,000 in subsequent years, Biery said.

"So the addiction got really bad?" the judge asked.

"Very, very bad," she answered.

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Playton, the prosecutor, asked the judge to stay within the guidelines when imposing the sentence.

"Every two weeks, she had to lie to the bank about her payroll, then she had to lie on the ledgers of the books, and then she had to look at the faces of her employers and her co-workers," Playton said. "Every two weeks, she lied to these people and stole money that affected everyone's lives in that firm."

Walker is among a number of San Antonio-area bookkeepers and office managers to be charged in connection with stealing from their employer.

Nov 18, 2024

Patrick Danner

Senior Reporter

Patrick Danner is a business reporter for the San Antonio Express-News. He can be reached at pdanner@express-news.net.

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analysis of article text

prohibitionist	prohibition_agency	drugwar_propaganda	legalization	drug_reformer
reform_referenda	cannabis	stimulant	narcotic	hallucinogen

incarceration/prison mentioned? yes .

propaganda analysis

EXP - explicit prohibition propaganda (explicit_propaganda)	GRP - hated group (propaganda_theme1)	MAD - madness, violence, illness (propaganda_theme2)
SOC - survival of society (propaganda_theme3)	USE - gateway, use is abuse (propaganda_theme4)	KID - children (propaganda_theme5)
WAR - demonize, war, epidemic (propaganda_theme6)	TOT - total prohibition (propaganda_theme7)	DIS - dissent opposed (propaganda_theme8)

concept		evidence	hits	links
	drug of abuse implied / mentioned drug related 60% [news] [concept]	illegal drugs
	propaganda drugwar propaganda 75% [news] [concept]	explicit propaganda propaganda theme2 propaganda theme3 celebrity scapegoat propaganda theme4		•Why Are Americans So Easy to Manipulate? (Bruce E Levine, 2012) •Classic Modern Drug Propaganda •Themes in Chemical Prohibition •Drug War Propaganda (kindle edition)
	explicit prohibition propaganda explicit propaganda 70% [news] [concept]	"spokesman"	2	•SourceWatch: War on Drugs •dare.procon.org •Write What You're Told •Anti-Drug PSAs From the 80s and 90s •Lippmann, Walter; Public Opinion (1921) •Bernays, Edward; Propaganda (1928)
	addiction 60% [news] [concept]	"addiction" "addicted"	4	•Twelve-Step Snake Oil (2012) •Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers (Thomas Szasz) •Rat Park •substance.com/stop-nora-volkow-l... •iboga-experience.nl/ •lewrockwell.com/2013/08/stephen-... •wakingtimes.com/2014/03/12/canna... •Most People With Addiction Simply Grow Out of It: Why Is This Widely Denied? (2014)
	madness, violence, illness propaganda theme2 70% [news] [concept]	"crimes" "criminal" "harm" "fatally" addiction	4	•Madness Crime Violence Illness (propaganda theme 2) •drugwarfacts.org/crime.htm •drugwarfacts.org/causes.htm •Distortion 18: Cannabis and Mental Illness •No, marijuana use doesn't lower your IQ (10/2014)
	survival of society propaganda theme3 75% [news] [concept]	"The nation" "The nation's"	2	•Survival of Society (propaganda theme 3) •The "Nation" as a Device To Create a Psychological Crowd
	gateway gateway 55% [news] [concept]	"lead to"	2	•Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4) •drugwarfacts.org/gatewayt.htm •Distortion 7: Gateway
	gateway, use is abuse propaganda theme4 55% [news] [concept]	gateway		•Use is Abuse, Gateway (propaganda theme 4)
	celebrity scapegoat 50% [news] [concept]	"Elon Musk"	1	•zombielogicblog.blogspot.com/201... •google.com/search?q=celebrity%20... •Scapegoat Ritual; Ceremonial Chemistry: The Ritual Persecution of Drugs, Addicts, and Pushers (Thomas Szasz)
	drug of abuse illegal drugs 60% [news] [concept]	addiction
	oft-mentioned government prohibitionist govt prohib other 66% [news] [concept]	"U.S. Attorney"	1	•A Drug War Carol, page 18
	incarceration [news] [concept]	"prison"	5	•Prison Hell in America (Stephen Lendman, Oct. 2011) •Understanding the U.S. Torture State •this is what a police state looks like •Torture and the United States •drugwarfacts.org/cms/Prisons and... •aclu.org/combating-mass-incarcer... •november.org •mapinc.org/prison.htm •hermes-press.com/prisons drugs.htm •US Official Prison Policy: Encourage Men's Rape (2014) •Profit Driven Prison Industrial Complex (2012) •The Top Five Special Interest Groups Lobbying To Keep Marijuana Illegal •Sing a Little Louder •Prison Rape Widely Ignored by Authorities •thedailysheeple.com/prisons-are-... •Push Back Against Drug War Profiteering with Jury Nullification
	aggrandizing government aggrandizement [news] [concept]	"officials"	1	•Statism: the Most Dangerous Religion (2014 video) •What is Statism? •Conservapedia: Statism •Wikipedia: Statolatry •lewrockwell.com/2014/07/thomas-d... •Bought Priesthood •Worship of the U. S. Government (2011) •Bureaucratic Thrust •Tyranny of Experts •The Threat of Authority (2012) •The Media As Enablers of Government Lies •The Statist Mindset (Jacob Hornberger, 2011) •Thinking Critically about Experts and Authority •'Scientific' evidence for FDA-approved drugs isn't so scientific, it turns out (2014) •The Intellectual Gravy Train (2015)

st:0.01 fo:0 s:0 d:0 c:0.06 db:0.182 a:0.54 m:0.11 t:1.08 (f)

text of article used for CRITICAL ANALYSIS, under FAIR USE provisions of the Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107, et al.