Couple jailed, accused in $114K Carbon County business theft


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PRICE — A husband and wife who lived in Utah until last year were arrested Monday in Louisiana amid allegations that the wife embezzled more than $114,000 from the Carbon County businesses she worked for and her husband benefited from the thefts.

Yvette Marie Broussard Booker, 47, and Donovan Eugene "Don" Booker, 68, were arrested without incident by Price Police Capt. Bill Barnes with the help of Louisiana State Patrol investigators.

Carbon County prosecutors have charged Yvette Booker with 40 felony and misdemeanor counts of theft, and 30 felony and misdemeanor counts of computer crimes. Don Booker is charged with theft by receiving stolen property, a second-degree felony.

Yvette Booker worked as a bookkeeper for two Price companies from September 2010 to August 2014, Barnes said. Around the time of Booker's resignation, company officials noticed "financial irregularities" and conducted an audit that initially showed Booker had taken $9,000 without authorization, Barnes said.

A subsequent investigation by Price police revealed Booker had taken much more than that, according to charging documents. Barnes identified "in excess of 60 separate events of theft, most of which involved using company computer systems without authorization to take possession of company property," the charges state.


She tested several avenues of theft procedure to see if she could do it and to see if she could do it without getting caught.

–Capt. Bill Barnes, Price PD


"Banking documents obtained by the investigator pursuant to a subpoena document that Yvette Booker has illegally diverted over $114,000 from two companies for her and her husband's benefit," Barnes wrote in a probable cause statement filed in support of the charges.

Yvette Booker overpaid herself on her legitimate paychecks and then began "making additional fraudulent payments to herself," Barnes wrote, adding that "sometimes these would include complete additional payroll checks."

Booker is also accused of altering an account set up for one of the company's vendors so that money paid to that vendor was instead deposited into her account. Those deposits totaled nearly $80,000, the charges state.

"She tested several avenues of theft procedure to see if she could do it and to see if she could do it without getting caught," wrote Barnes, who noted these were "deliberate calculated acts."

After Yvette Booker resigned, the couple moved to Louisiana. They made an estimated $66,000 on the sale of their home in Carbon County and paid $169,500 cash for their new home in Louisiana, according to court records.

Yvette Booker's Facebook page also includes recent photos of a 2015 Dodge Challenger R/T and a diamond ring. "Her posts suggest that these items were gifts from her husband," Barnes wrote.

Investigators believe Don Booker was aware of his wife's alleged criminal activity, Barnes said. Police and prosecutors have asked a judge to prevent the Bookers from selling or mortgaging their house, the car and the ring while the case against the couple is pending.

The Bookers were booked into the Lafayette Parish Jail and have been cooperative, according to investigators. Yvette Booker's bail is set at $130,000, while Don Booker was being held on $10,000 bail. Court records did not list an attorney for the couple.

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Geoff Liesik

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