Woman gets prison time for stealing $571,000 from Pizza Hut

A Wichita woman who stole more than half a million dollars from Pizza Hut of Southeast Kansas was ordered Monday to spend three years in prison, the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office said.

Jeannette Block, 46, used the money to build a 1,900-square-foot house, buy appliances and pay off credit card debt, according to an affidavit requested by The Eagle and released by Sedgwick County District Court in August.

The house is appraised at just more than $404,000, according to county property tax and appraisal records.

Block had asked Sedgwick County District Court Judge Christopher Magana to put her on probation so she could pay back the money and avoid time in a correctional facility, the district attorney’s office said.

But Magana refused because Block stole money on several occasions and because she had two theft convictions from 1991, prosecutors said.

Block worked as an accountant and controller for the company for 15 years, the district attorney’s office said in an e-mail announcing her sentence. She pleaded guilty in October to one count of felony theft for taking $571,915.47 from the company between Oct. 19, 2010, and June 18, 2014.

Block’s defense attorney couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Monday afternoon.

Fugate Enterprises, which owns and operates Pizza Hut of Southeast Kansas, reported Block’s thefts in July 2015, according to the affidavit. She had access to Fugate Enterprises’ back accounts, including one through Intrust Bank out of which she wrote:

▪ $506,640.42 in checks made to cash, all of which were converted to cashier’s checks later used to pay for the house and other items and pay down credit cards

▪ $59,234.55 in checks to Credit Union of America, which were deposited in Block’s personal accounts and used to pay credit card bills

▪ $6,040.50 check to GE Capital, which was used to pay a credit card in Block’s and her husband’s names

Fugate Enterprises owner Larry Fugate told investigators the money wasn’t part of Block’s regular pay and that she didn’t have permission to take it or conduct the transactions she did. The company also showed investigators proof that Block falsified records at least 17 times to hide the thefts, according to the affidavit.

Another employee recognized Block’s signature on the checks, the affidavit says. Others had her driver’s license number written on them.

During her sentencing hearing, Block told Magana she sold her home and had already returned $200,000, the district attorney’s office said.

She has until Dec. 14 to surrender herself to authorities so she can begin serving her prison sentence.

This story was originally published December 5, 2016 at 2:49 PM with the headline "Woman gets prison time for stealing $571,000 from Pizza Hut."