Lam Chopped

Admitted embezzler Kimberly O’Dell got a brief reprieve when her sentencing date was rescheduled from Jan. 27 to Feb. 9 in U.S. District Judge Jimm Hendren’s Fayetteville courtroom.

But prosecutors are turning up the heat, filing a sentencing memorandum Jan. 20 in which they asked that O’Dell get an enhanced sentence for obstruction of justice. The memo cites her failure to appear for trial in August 2009 and her flight to New Orleans to evade authorities.

The memo also claims O’Dell doesn’t qualify for a reduction of her sentence for acceptance of responsibility. The federal court system considers a guilty plea an acceptance of responsibility, which can result in a reduced sentence.

O’Dell, a former Fayetteville CPA, stole more than $1.56 million from clients Tom and Monica Terminella and the University of Arkansas chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.

After nearly two years on the run, O’Dell was arrested in New Orleans last June, and in September pleaded guilty to six counts of wire fraud, four counts of money laundering and one count of misuse of a U.S. Treasury Department name or symbol.

She faces a total of 161 years in prison and fines of up to $2.51 million, and could be ordered to pay restitution to her victims.