CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Belmont woman was sentenced to 57 months in prison on Wednesday for fraudulent back-to-back embezzling schemes from recent employers.
Lisa Buza Hill, also known as Lisa Rollins-Hill, 43, will also have to serve three years of court supervision after she is released from prison.
According to a news release from the Department of Justice, Hill was convicted in October 2012 of federal wire fraud for stealing over $800,000 from a Kings Mountain motorcycle company. Back then, she was ordered to serve a five-month probationary term and then had three years of supervised release. She had to pay $807,506.39 in restitution to her former employer.
However, Hill embezzled again, this time for a company in Charlotte where she worked as a controller.
The U.S. Attorney's Office filed fresh charges against her in July 2020, saying she misused her access to the company's financial system from September 2019 through February 2020. She was able to issue 15 company checks to herself, totaling $22,000 while still paying back restitution from her 2012 conviction, and the office says she made false statements to the office's attempts to collect said restitution.
It wouldn't be the end for Hill, according to prosecutors. In June 2021, while her charges for the fraudulent check scheme were still pending, a federal bill of information was also filed against Hill. This time, she was charged with embezzling $550,000 in authorized funds from a development company in Rock Hill, South Carolina, where she was employed as a Chief Financial Officer. Prosecutors say her access to the company's financial records enabled her to make unauthorized payments for herself, enabling her to pay for personal expenses such as payments on a BMW vehicle, mortgage payments, a trip to Walt Disney World, and to settle misuse of funds allegations from previous employers.
The U.S. Attorney's Office says the FBI and Charlotte Mecklenburg police conducted the investigations into her.
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