Fortine woman sentenced for embezzling

MISSOULA—Fortine resident Roseann Robyn Kipp, who admitted stealing from two Eureka community programs, was sentenced Friday to eight months in prison, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $48,431 restitution, U.S. Attorney Kurt Alme said.

Kipp, 40, pleaded guilty in November to wire fraud.

U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided.

Prosecutors said evidence showed that for about two years, Kipp embezzled funds from the Eureka Rural Development Partners, which promoted and assisted businesses, and from the Area Chamber of Commerce, which put on an annual event called the “Rendezvous.” Kipp was an administrative assistant who provided bookkeeping services for Rural Development. She also was the treasurer for the Chamber of Commerce and collected funds in a PayPal account for the Rendezvous.

Kipp was fired on Nov. 25, 2015, after she admitted to embezzling funds from the Rural Development MasterCard account. The amount stolen was about $45,909. Kipp also stole about $2,501 from the Chamber’s PayPal account for the Rendezvous.

In a January 2018 interview with law enforcement, Kipp admitted to embezzling from Rural Development.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Weldon prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the FBI.