Fresno, California - Shelley Corkins, also known as Shelley Kimbrell, 38, of Fresno, pleaded guilty today to three counts of wire fraud in connection with her embezzlement of money from the law firm that formerly employed her, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to the plea agreement, Corkins formerly was employed by a Fresno-based law firm as a bookkeeper and accounting department supervisor. Between January 2008 and May 2012, Corkins abused her access and authority to manage the law firm’s finances and embezzled the law firm’s money for her own personal use. Corkins used her company credit card to make personal purchases at various retail outlets, including clothing and toy stores, electronically transferred funds from the law firm’s bank accounts to her own, and embezzled the law firm’s petty cash. Corkins admitted that while employed with the law firm, she embezzled at least $317,000 of the law firm’s money.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Baker is prosecuting the case.

Corkins is scheduled to be sentenced by Senior U.S. District Judge Anthony W. Ishii on May 11, 2015. The maximum statutory penalty for each of the three counts of wire fraud is 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory sentencing factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.