A Coeur d’Alene human resources manager was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud for stealing more than $1 million from her former employer, a Spokane Valley steel company forced into bankruptcy.
Daily Mail reported that Tahnya Hyung Shafer, 48, diverted company money through inflated paychecks, fictional employees, and altered vendor payments while working at Spokane Industries from December 2022 to April 2025.
Chief United States District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford imposed the sentence on Wednesday. Court filings described how Shafer gambled away most of the stolen funds at the Coeur d’Alene Casino and used more than $120,000 to pay down a home equity line of credit.
The maximum penalty for the offense was 20 years. She received less than three years behind bars, plus three years of supervised release and an order to repay more than $1 million.
Shafer started at Spokane Industries overseeing employee benefits and payroll. In 2023 she also took control of accounts payable. Prosecutors said that role “empowered” her to log into the company’s online bank accounts.
Filings described a simple pattern. She inflated her own paychecks. She created fictional employees and collected those paychecks into bank accounts registered in her name at her Idaho residence.
After payment entries were made, another staff member approved them. Shafer then changed key details such as account numbers so money meant for real vendors flowed to her instead.
Cases of people inventing false programs or fake identities to drain large sums keep surfacing in federal court, including the FBI capture of an alleged $32 million COVID fraud fugitive who hid abroad under a false name.
Shafer maintained multiple personal accounts tied to the scheme. She pleaded guilty in March to one count of wire fraud. Another 26 wire fraud counts and money-laundering charges were dismissed under the plea agreement.
Court records show most of the stolen money went to the Coeur d’Alene Casino. More than $120,000 also went to clear a home equity line of credit on property later ordered forfeited.
That property sits in the 3900 block of North Belmont Road in Coeur d’Alene. Judge Brailsford ordered its forfeiture along with restitution exceeding $1 million to the company.
Large-scale diversion of funds for personal use has appeared in other recent fraud sentencings, including two Feeding Our Future defendants punished for faking a child nutrition program to steal public money.
Shafer’s attorney, Matthew Francis Duggan, was contacted for comment. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Idaho told reporters on Friday it had nothing further to add.
Spokane Industries is a small steel and iron castings business founded in 1952. The theft left the company behind on bills. Owners used their own money to keep paying employees.
The firm filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Co-owner Patrick Turner pointed directly to the missing funds in those papers.
Turner said the company originally intended to “expand” but instead hit severe trouble.
“major and unforeseeable setbacks”
He also referenced money Shafer had “fraudulently obtained” from the business.
“fraudulently obtained”
Bankruptcy attorney Thomas Buford said the company expected to exit bankruptcy over the next couple of months once most major creditors settle on a reorganization plan.
High-dollar financial crime cases continue to draw federal attention, as seen when a former Swiss banking lobby chief was convicted in a $101 million bribery and money-laundering scheme involving diverted funds.
For a family-owned manufacturer that had operated since the Truman era, the sudden cash drain was not abstract. It was payroll risk, vendor defaults, and a formal bankruptcy filing.
Judge Brailsford sentenced Shafer to 33 months in federal prison. After release she faces three years of supervised release. Restitution tops $1 million. The Belmont Road property is forfeited.
Prosecutors had charged a far wider set of counts before the plea. The agreement left a single wire-fraud count standing. The statutory maximum remained 20 years.
Theft-by-false-payment cases appear in state courts as well, including a Texas man charged with felony cattle theft after allegedly writing $159,000 in bad checks.
Here the victim was a private manufacturer, not a government program. The method was inside access to payroll and payables. The result was the same: money gone, a business reeling, and a courtroom reckoning measured in months rather than decades.
Shafer held the keys to benefits, payroll, and later the online bank portal. She used that access across more than two years of employment. The company fell behind, owners covered wages from personal funds, and Chapter 11 followed.
Most of the cash fed casino play in Idaho. A six-figure slice cleaned up a home equity line. The plea trimmed dozens of counts. The sentence landed at 33 months.
Spokane Industries still expects to leave bankruptcy soon if creditors lock in a plan. The restitution order stands. The forfeited property order stands. The supervised-release term stands.
When an insider can invent workers, redirect vendor payments, and drain more than $1 million before a mid-sized manufacturer hits the wall, the sentence that follows tells workers and owners exactly how seriously the system treats the wreckage.
A company that built steel castings since 1952 should not have to gamble its future because one trusted manager treated the payroll like a personal ATM.
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