A former finance director of two Seattle nonprofits embezzled more than $3 million over nine years and spent that money on gambling, traveling and shopping, federal prosecutors allege.
Susana Tantico, 62, of Renton, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Seattle on Tuesday to two counts of wire fraud.
Between December 2016 and June 2020, Tantico stole about $2.3 million from Country Doctor Community Health Centers, and between June 2020 and May 2022, she stole about $890,000 from Community Passageways, according to court documents.
Country Doctor Community Health Centers provides health care to underserved people. Tantico worked there from 1999 to 2020, and as early as 2011 she began altering financial documents and lying to her employers, according to charging documents.
Tantico used more than $1.6 million of the nonprofit’s funds for gambling, prosecutors allege.
In 2017 and 2018, she spent over $50,000 of the nonprofit’s money on trips to Disney World, San Diego and Las Vegas, according to prosecutors. In the nonprofit’s ledger, she entered false payments for medical supplies, according to the documents.
She also spent more than $83,000 at Nordstrom and about $41,000 at Apple, according to the documents.
In June 2020, Tantico resigned from Country Doctor Community Health Centers and began working as director of finance for Community Passageways, a nonprofit focused on preventing young people from being incarcerated.
Tantico made withdrawals from the nonprofit’s bank account to pay for her mortgage, a vacation and gambling, according to prosecutors.
She claimed the nonprofit held youth programs at casinos when one of the organization’s banks asked about all the withdrawals at casinos, prosecutors allege.
Tantico stole nearly $893,000 from the nonprofit, according to the documents. The nonprofit has also spent $132,000 to audit its books, fix its accounting procedures and records, and reply to vendors, according to prosecutors.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for August. Prosecutors agreed to recommend a prison sentence of no more than three years and five months in prison. Tantico is also required to pay restitution to both organizations.
Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly labeled the involved prosecutors. The allegations were made by federal prosecutors.