Alleged harasser sentenced for fraud

ANCHORAGE — A woman accused, along with another man, of harassing a Valley-based state employee so badly she left the state has received 21 months in prison on unrelated federal fraud charges.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney in Anchorage, Mary Elizabeth Transki, 26, of Anchorage, was sentenced on fraud charges. The U.S. Attorney claims Transki and her husband, Floyd Leroy Lee Jr., set up a fake company, Platinum Investments, and hooked investors.

Lee and Transki didn’t invest the money received, though. Instead, they spent it on themselves. All-told they hauled in $62,000 “with the promise of high-yield returns in a brief amount of time,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s press release. Lee and Transki pleaded guilty in June to securities fraud and Lee to an additional count of mail fraud. He’s set to be sentenced Aug. 30.

“In sentencing Transki to 21 months in prison, Judge (Sharon) Gleason noted that Transki’s role in the fraud scheme had been greater than simply a ministerial role as Transki had maintained. Judge Gleason also noted that Lee and Transki had preyed on small investors who are the type of individuals least able to absorb the loss of investment funds,” according to the U.S. Attorney release.

Lee and Transki were the stars of court filings in a lawsuit against the state of Alaska filed by Lisa Carpenter, who said that during her time as an employee of the Offices of Children Services in Wasilla the state didn’t do enough to protect her from their harassment.

The harassment included false reports that she’d assaulted the two people and their children, allegations she was an embezzler, animal abuser, liar and an impersonator of an OCS employee.

They also allegedly placed phony ads on Craigslist pointing people to Carpenter’s home for everything from children’s toys to cheap vehicles and sexual favors. Carpenter resigned her job, but the harassment didn’t let up and she left the state.

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270 or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.