Axton woman pleads guilty in fraud scheme

An Axton woman pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Thursday to charges related to a wire fraud scheme.

Sheila Mae Hairston, 47, was indicted by a federal grand jury on April 23 and charged with 26 counts of wire fraud relating to her employment as a customer service representative at the GSI Commerce Call Center in Martinsville, according to a news release from United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley. Hairston pleaded guilty to three counts Thursday. A sentencing hearing is scheduled Sept. 6. Hairston remains free on a personal recognizance bond.

Hairston admitted fraudulently crediting her personal banking accounts with funds intended for GSI cus-tomers’ credit card accounts. She did this without authorization from the customers.

To perpetuate her scheme, Hairston would access GSI customer account information and submit a false refund claim. She then would divert the fraudulent refunded monies to her personal checking account. Hairston admitted to making about 190 such transactions, causing $109,684 to be fraudulently deposited into her checking accounts.

The U.S. Secret Service investigated the case.