Woman pleads guilty in $400,000 scheme

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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) - Federal prosecutors say a Louisiana woman has pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with a scheme to steal $400,000 from a company she worked for in Baton Rouge.

U.S. Attorney Brandon Fremin in Baton Rouge says in a Monday news release that 40-year-old Katherine T. Cancienne faces a possible prison term, fines, and restitution orders. Fremin's news release said Cancienne had worked for Baton Rouge-based Engineers & Constructors International, a consulting firm that provides engineering and managerial staffing to oil and gas companies.

She admitted to taking part in a scheme that included establishing a shell corporation and bank account under a name similar to an actual ECI vendor - and having ECI issue checks and electronic payments to that shell corporation.