A Chillicothe woman faces federal charges for allegedly embezzling nearly four million dollars from a construction company where she worked in Hamilton, Missouri.

U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson on Wednesday announced an indictment charging Donna Preszler, 60, with 20 federal counts.

Dicking says Preszler was employed at Burdg, Dunham & Associates (BDA) from 2001 until June 2012, working as an accounting manager since 2004. BDA is a general contractor specializing in retail construction of malls, strip centers, family life centers, and other stand-alone projects.

BDA serves customers in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, primarily building for national retail organizations.

The indictment alleges that Preszler embezzled $3,912,000 in a wire fraud scheme from June 30, 2006 through June 15, 2012. Preszler allegedly used her employer’s accounting software to create payroll data files that contained unauthorized false and fictitious payments to her bank accounts and others.

Preszler allegedly utilized her role as accounting manager to add false and fictitious non-taxable pay, such as expense reimbursements to herself.

Preszler is also charged with adding false and fictitious overtime hours and overtime pay to her weekly payroll, the indictment says. Preszler allegedly initiated approximately $76,000 in unauthorized overtime payments to herself from November 2004 through June 2006, which were subject to BDA withholding income taxes.

According to the indictment, Preszler concealed her transfers by password protecting her payroll information, creating false and fictitious expense accounts and otherwise manipulating BDA’s payroll and accounting records.

The federal indictment charges Preszler with six counts of wire fraud and 14 counts of money laundering.

The indictment also contains a forfeiture allegation, which would require Preszler to forfeit to the government any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged violations, including a money judgment of $3,912,000, her residence on a 3.44-acre tract in Chillicothe as well as three other residential properties, two 14 karat diamond rings, 10 vehicles, three ATVs and several bank accounts and funeral trust accounts. Most of those items have been seized by law enforcement agents.