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Forest Service worker embezzled $640,000 from Fire Budget
06:36 PM PDT on Wednesday, June 27, 2007

(AP) -- A U-S Forest Service worker pleaded guilty Wednes day to embezzling more than 640-thousand dollars from the federal agency, most of it from the firefighting budget.

Forty-nine-year-old Debra Kay Durfey of Echo told a federal judge in Portland, Oregon, that she deposited the money in a joint bank account shared with her boyfriend. But Durfey told investigators that she handled the banking and her boyfriend was unaware of the embezzlement.

Durfey used the money for gambling, car and mortgage payments and dining out.

Durfey also pleaded guilty to a tax fraud charge. She was indicted by a federal grand jury last November. Sentencing was set for September seventh. She faces two years in prison under her plea bargain.