By Peggy Mackenzie
A female inmate pleaded guilty Wednesday, Aug. 12, at the Southern District Court in Beckley to escaping from a federal correctional facility for women.
Patricia Alfieri, 54, admitted that she escaped from the Federal Correctional Center in Alderson on June 18. She was on the run for 10 days and appeared to have been staying in a wooded area near a hotel complex in Lewisburg. She was apprehended by authorities on Sunday, June 28.
Called a “prolific scammer and tax cheat,” Alfieri was a New York state tax compliance worker who wrote more than $3.6 million in bogus checks to the IRS as part of a scheme to trigger overpayment refunds to herself, according to local media. She has had five previous criminal convictions, “all for financial crimes.” At the time of her escape, Alfieri was serving a 41-month sentence imposed by a federal court in New York for mail fraud and making a false tax return.
As a result of her escape, Alfieri faces up to five additional years in prison when she is sentenced Nov. 18. The U.S. Marshal Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney John File is handling the prosecution.
