Osburn woman sentenced for wire fraud scheme

COEUR D'ALENE – Trina Welch, 49, of Osburn, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for committing wire fraud, U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced Monday.

According to court records, Welch was employed by Kasco of Idaho, LLC, with an office in Rathdrum, as a bookkeeper from 2012 until 2019. Kasco is a construction and telecommunication company that does work in Washington, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, and Alaska.

Beginning in at least 2013 and continuing until the day she was terminated on July 3, 2019, Welch used her position as a bookkeeper to engage in a scheme and plan to defraud Kasco and obtain money and property for herself. Welch conducted the scheme by issuing 341 fraudulent checks to purchase properties, vehicles, and travel for herself, her family, and her friends.

In January of 2022, Welch pleaded guilty to the charge of wire fraud, admitting that in 2017 alone she took over $930,000 just to pay her Bank of America credit cards. As part of the plea agreement, Welch admitted writing the 341 fraudulent checks, and agreed to pay restitution and forfeit her interest in any of the properties she bought with the money. However, she contested that the entire amount of the checks represented a loss to Kasco.

After a two-day hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge David C. Nye found that Welch’s scheme caused a $3,673,934.00 loss to Kasco.

Nye also ordered Welch to forfeit her interest in six different properties she bought with Kasco funds, and to pay restitution in the amount of $3,678,237.73.

Welch was remanded into the custody of the U.S. Marshal Service after the hearing to begin her prison sentence. After prison, Welch will serve three years of supervised release during which time she will be required to report to a U.S. Probation Officer.

U.S. Attorney Hurwit, of the District of Idaho made the announcement and commended the cooperative efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Rathdrum Police Department which led to charges.