Couple gets jail time for $3 mil fraud

NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) - A Virginia Beach couple has been sentenced serve time in jail and pay nearly $3 million in restitution fees for embezzling money from an employer and using it to travel and buy tanning salon supplies, among other items.

Terri Lynn Nagy-Phillips, 41, and Craig Phillips, 42, both of Portsmouth were sentenced to 12 and 9 years, respectively, for wire fraud and conspiracy.

According to Neil McBride with the US Attorney's Office, the two will also serve three years of supervised release.

Terri Lynn worked at a commercial real estate company based in Virginia Beach and had used her position at the company to embezzle nearly $3 million between January 2007 and November 2011. She had also listed her husband as an employee of the company, enabling him to receive a salary.

The couple deposited approximately $2.3 million of that money into their bank accounts and spent $500,000 in unauthorized charges to the company's credit card to pay for airline tickets to Las Vegas, New York City and the US Virgin Islands, as well purchase supplies for a tanning salon business.

The couple pleaded guilty to their crimes in July 2012 and were arrested in December 2011.