Idaho woman sentenced for embezzling $1.7 million

MERIDIAN (Idaho Statesman) — A Meridian woman who embezzled more than $1.7 million from an Idaho irrigation district will spend nearly three and a half years in prison on charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

Catherine Skidmore, 56, was sentenced by a U.S. district judge this week to serve 41 months behind bars. She also will be on supervised release for three years once her prison term is up, and she was ordered to pay restitution of $1,792,207.59, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho.

Skidmore, who was indicted by a federal grand jury in January, was the secretary-treasurer of the Black Canyon Irrigation District in Notus for nearly eight years. While employed there, she handled fee collecting and managed investment accounts. For nearly three years, beginning in May 2019, Skidmore devised “an elaborate series of transfers between the district’s various financial accounts,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in the release.

Skidmore transferred a little over $1.7 million from an unauthorized irrigation district account that she created to her personal account.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Skidmore used the funds to pay credit card bills for herself and others; pay property taxes; fund home improvement projects; make mortgage payments; and purchase real property, solar panels and vehicles.

The Black Canyon Irrigation District serves western Canyon County. The district also sued Skidmore in September 2022.