ST. LOUIS — A former employee of a St. Louis wholesale food supplier was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison for misappropriating $233,000 in company funds.
Tara D. Sabatini, of St. Charles, was previously the senior sales director for Swiss American Inc. From March 2017 to November 2019, she charged various items to the company credit card, including a $32,000 10-game, four-seat luxury "Legends" ticket package for the New York Yankees, prosecutors have said.
In a letter to U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber, the company said Sabatini caused a “devastating financial impact” to the business and “deep, far-reaching negative impact” to employees, suppliers and business relationships. The company struggled to keep going and had to eliminate 16 jobs, the company said in court filings.
She pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in October to a felony charge of wire fraud. But officials then subsequently learned Sabatini had bounced checks to two people totaling $138,291, prosecutors said in a court filing. She was then jailed pending her sentencing.
Sabatini apologized during Wednesday's hearing, which was held by Zoom. Her lawyer, Martin Minnigerode, said in a message that, "Mrs. Sabatini's remorse for her actions is sincere and ... she will work diligently to repay the restitution when she is released from prison."
Robert Patrick
Robert Patrick is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
