Unfamiliar charges on your credit card? This was the case for Mears Floral, a Springfield, Missouri, business that started in 1949, serving retail florists in Arkansas, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. Mears Floral was in operation for over 70 years and employed Ms. Kayellen Faye Inskip as a bookkeeper and operations manager.
On Oct. 10, 2024, Ms. Inskip pleaded guilty to one count of access device fraud. Ms. Inskip admitted to using a company credit card to make unauthorized personal purchases. These purchases included airplane tickets, vacations to Disney World, cruises, restaurants, clothing, utilities, medical bills, and college tuition and fees for her daughter. To conceal the fraud, Ms. Inskip would then provide false financial reports to officers in the company. Eventually the fraud was discovered by company officials, but they had already suffered a loss of $295,771.91.
Due to the embezzlement, Mears Floral went out of business after 70 years as a well-known local business with many long-term employees. Company financials should be viewed and verified through every step of the process from initiating payments to reconciliation. Thorough reconciliation prevents an individual from having the ability to make purchases while also having the ability to alter financial documents, making fraud easier to conceal for long periods.
