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Ex-Texas Fruitcake Executive Sentenced for $16.6 Million Fraud

Sandy Jenkins was sentenced to federal prison for fleecing a Texas bakery of $16.6 million and using the proceeds to support an extravagant lifestyle.

For 15 years, Sandy Jenkins was an accountant for an institution of a bakery in Central Texas, the 119-year-old, family-run fruitcake producer Collin Street Bakery.

On Wednesday, Jenkins, 66, was sentenced to a decade in federal prison for fleecing the bakery of nearly $17 million and using the proceeds to support an extravagant lifestyle that included private jet trips to Aspen and Santa Fe, the purchase of luxury cars and a $50,000 wine collection, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas.

Jenkins and his wife, Kay, spent so much at a local Neiman Marcus — $1.2 million, the U.S. Attorney said — that they each had a nickname.

Sandy was “Fruitcake.” Kay was “Cupcake.”

"Jenkins stopped shopping at Neiman Marcus when Neiman’s ran out of things to sell them," the release said.

Kay, who pleaded guilty to participating in the scheme earlier this year, was sentenced to five years of probation and 100 hours of community service. She will also be required to send a letter of apology to the bakery.

The scheme began in December 2004, according to the indictment, when Sandy Jenkins began writing fraudulent bakery checks to personal creditors. Over an eight year period, he produced 888 checks totaling $16.6 million.

When bakery managers suspected fraud, they reported Sandy Jenkins to the authorities.

"We were blindsided," a bakery partner, Hayden Crawford, told the Associated Press in 2013. "We were so focused on every other part of the business, and so confident in the integrity of our people, that we overlooked the elephant in the room."

In September 2013, Sandy Jenkins was indicted on 10 counts of mail fraud; eight months later, he pleaded guilty to the fraud, as well as conspiracy to commit money laundering and making a false statement to a financial institution.

His lawyer, Brett Stalcup, did not respond to an interview request. Kay Jenkins’ attorneys did not respond either, but in a news release last year, they attributed her wealth to family inheritance. She didn’t know about her husband’s scheme, the release said, and she even requested that the FBI give her a polygraph.

“That request was rejected by the government's lead prosecutor,” the release said.