Attleboro woman sentenced to 18 months in prison for embezzling more than $400,000

Date: Jan. 23, 2026

Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov

BOSTON – The former office manager for a Franklin environmental services business was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for embezzling more than $400,000 from her employer.  

Marie Hobson, of Attleboro, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Denise J. Casper to 18 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. Hobson was also ordered to pay restitution of $511,119 and to forfeit $429,980. In October 2025, Hobson was charged with and pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and one count of filing a false tax return.

Between December 2019 and March 2025, Hobson inflated her own payroll by adding approximately $268,046 in phony expense reimbursements, such as uniform costs even though Hobson did not wear a uniform in her position. To conceal the thefts, Hobson manipulated her employer’s accounting software to make it appear she was only receiving her weekly salary. Hobson also misused her company-issued credit card to pay for country club memberships, vacations, cruises, timeshares and personal residence costs totaling more than $105,000.

To further conceal her scheme, Hobson failed to report the funds that she embezzled on her federal income tax filings for tax years 2021 through 2024, resulting in a tax loss to the government of approximately $81,000.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas E. Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; and Ted E. Docks, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Division made the announcement today. The Franklin Police Department provided valuable assistance with the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth Kosto, Chief of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit, prosecuted the case.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.