Woman who embezzled from St. Louis-Area company before going to Scotland sentenced to 45 Months in prison

ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - A woman was sentenced to 45 months of prison after she stole over $165,000 from a St. Louis-area company before leaving for Scotland.

Sarah Lynn Tweedie, 49, and formerly known as Sarah Jauregui, pleaded guilty in June to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

While working as the controller of a St. Louis area comic book company, Tweedie devised a scheme to steal from her employer in multiple ways. She used her company credit card and a card belonging to a former employee to make $138,137 in purchases, including a Scottish kilt and a $1,239 premium seat upgrade on her flight from Chicago to Glasgow.

Tweedie also used the corporate account to purchase $6,400 in Amazon gift cards.

Tweddie also fraudulently increased her annual salary from $80,000 to $110,000 and triggered $16,086 in expense reimbursements to which she was not entitled.

According to extradition documents, Tweddie became engaged with a Scottish man in March of 2017, the month before she began working for the publishing company.

Tweddie, according to court documents, lied to her employer in December of 2017 and told them her fiancée had been injured in a car accident and that she needed to leave to be with him. In reality, Tweedie had applied for and received a visa to live in Scotland and did not plan to return.

She was arrested on July 9, 2019, but fought extradition until her final appeal was denied in March of 2024.

Tweddie was was also ordered to repay the money. Tweddie will also be forbidden from working in a job where she has access to money or the financial information of other people without permission after her release from prison