Former McCreery Aviation employee admits to embezzling nearly $1.2 million

McALLEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — A former employee who embezzled nearly $1.2 million from McCreery Aviation pleaded guilty to mail fraud on Wednesday.

Elizabeth Batten, 58, of Mission — the former director of Finance and Administration for McCreery Aviation — pleaded guilty Wednesday afternoon during a hearing in McAllen.

“They’re saying that, generally, you used their accounts — your employer’s accounts — to issue checks to pay for your personal expenses, including your own credit card accounts and your ex-husband’s credit card accounts,” said U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker. “Is that true?”

“Yes, your honor,” Batten said.

McAllen-based McCreery Aviation sells planes, aircraft parts and services. The company, which is located near the McAllen airport, also offers flying lessons and charter flights.

Batten spent more than a decade working for McCreery, which promoted her to director of Finance and Administration.

“During the period of BATTEN’s employment, BATTEN was entrusted by Mr. McCreery with signed blank checks from McCreery Aviation’s bank accounts,” according to the indictment against her. “Mr. McCreery, who frequently traveled for business, left these signed checks in the office to ensure that essential operating expenses could be covered in his absence. These checks were intended solely for legitimate business expenditures and were not to be used for any unauthorized purposes.”

In 2023, however, the company discovered “irregularities in the handling of company checks,” according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.

An investigation revealed Batten had been paying her personal credit card bills with McCreery Aviation checks.

Batten was charged with 10 counts of mail fraud, a federal felony, because she mailed the checks to payment processing centers in Dallas and Carol Stream, Illinois.

Faced with a maximum of 20 years in federal prison, Batten struck a deal with prosecutors.

Batten pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, agreed to pay nearly $1.2 million in restitution and waived her right to appeal.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, agreed to drop the other charges against her.

As part of her plea, Batten admitted that she wrote company checks to Chase and Bank of America to pay her personal credit card bills.

“Ms. Batten prepared and issued checks from McCreery Aviation’s corporate accounts to cover personal expenses,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Fry said during the hearing on Wednesday. “Including payments to credit card accounts in her own name and those under her ex-husband’s name, on which she was an authorized user.”

Batten embezzled $1,191,492.34 during the scheme, which started in approximately 2019 and ended in 2023.

“Ms. Batten, do you disagree with any of those facts?” said Hacker, the federal judge.

“No, sir,” Batten said.

Sentencing is scheduled for Oct. 7.