An Osage County drilling contractor was “destroyed” by the woman who manipulated their financial ledgers to embezzle almost $400,000 over a three-year period, a federal prosecutor asserted.
From June 27, 2019, to Aug. 9, 2022, Susan Marie Garrison was employed with Eyler Drilling in Hominy as its bookkeeper; her duties included managing financial activities, bank accounts, and preparing records.
During that time she “wrote herself 242 unauthorized checks – an average of more than one check a week,” said Clint Johnson, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Oklahoma.
She concealed her thefts by making false entries, deleting entries, and omitting entries in the company’s accounting records, Johnson related.
Garrison’s crimes “destroyed the family business that Dean and Monty Eyler built together as father and son over 21 years,” Johnson told the court.
Eyler Drilling “had to liquidate.” The Eylers “are liable on personal guarantees for the business debt,” the prosecutor said. Monty Eyler “has had to work multiple jobs out of state to try to pay the debts,” and Dean Eyler “has had to delay retirement to help.”
In addition, the drilling company “supported not just Dean and Monty Eyler but also their employees.”
In short, Johnson wrote, “Garrison ruined Dean and Monty Eyler’s lives financially by destroying the business that was their life savings.”
U.S. District Judge Sara E. Hill sentenced Garrison, 54, of Sand Springs, to 33 months in federal prison, followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered her to pay $393,025 in restitution.