Former Executive Coach Builders employee sentenced for embezzlement

A former employee of Springfield-based Executive Coach Builders Inc. has been sentenced for a $1.3 million theft and tax scheme.

Carrie Long, 52, of Ash Grove, was ordered to spend three years and five months in federal prison without parole and to pay the full amount of the scheme in restitution to her former employer, the IRS and the government, according to a news release from the office of Teresa Moore, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Long, who worked as an in-house accountant for Executive Coach Builders and Executive Bus Builders Inc., which build buses, coaches and limousines, admitted to stealing at least $362,175 from the companies from February 2016 to September 2020. She also admitted that she failed to pay $902,226 of employment taxes the companies owed to the IRS.

Long stole from the companies at least 198 times, according to court documents.

Long additionally did not claim stolen funds on her individual income tax returns from 2016 through 2020, according to the release.

Court documents show Long previously was convicted in state court of similar conduct with a previous employer. She allegedly used funds stolen from Executive Coach Builders and Executive Bus Builders to pay back her mother for the prior victims’ restitution payment.