Woman pleads guilty to mail fraud

The former payroll administrator for a Lawrenceville electrical services company admitted Wednesday that she stole $406,000 from the business by depositing checks meant for former employees into her own accounts and then spending it on herself.

Raelise Ostrowski, 46, waived indictment in U.S. District Court and pleaded guilty to mail fraud in ripping off Wellington Power Corp., an electric construction services company with offices in Lawrenceville and the North Shore.

She had been charged in May by direct complaint.

As the payroll administrator and executive assistant to the owners, Ms. Ostrowski was in charge of authorizing per diem checks for expenses to Wellington’s employees working in California.

She kept a list of employees who had left the company, prosecutors said, and caused Wellington to continue issuing the checks to them for reimbursement for housing, gas and other expenses drawn on the company’s PNC Bank account.

Between 2008 and 2013, Ms. Ostrowski forged the signatures of ex-employees on 288 checks worth $406,598 and deposited them into her own accounts at PNC and Citizens Bank.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mary Houghton said she then spent all of the money on herself.

U.S. District Judge Cathy Bissoon set sentencing for November and ordered that Ms. Ostrowski remain free on bond until then.