Roberts Jailed in CheckFree Scam

ATLANTA – A former CheckFree executive and his wife are headed to jail and will a fine for their scheme to defraud the electronic bill payments service provider out of almost $400,000. Lawrence Dale Roberts, 43, of Marietta, Ga., was sentenced to three years in prison, and his wife, Christina Roberts, 36, was sentenced to a year behind bars and ordered to pay CheckFree $386,000 in restitution. Authorities said Dale Roberts was a CheckFree executive who contracted with a company secretly owned by his wife, which charged CheckFree inflated prices, 100% overly regular hourly rates. The couple hid their ownership in the contractor, posing a neighbor as the owner and providing him with a cell phone owned by Dale Roberts. Christina Roberts forged the neighbor’s signature on several documents, including checks.