A human resources manager was sentenced to less than three years in prison after stealing more than $1 million from her former employer and gambling most of it away at a casino.

Tahnya Hyung Shafer, 48, worked for Spokane Industries, a small steel and iron castings business in Spokane Valley, Washington, between December 2022 and April 2025.

Shafer, of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, oversaw employee benefits, payroll and, later, accounts payable for the company, according to an indictment viewed by the Daily Mail.

Prosecutors from the US Attorney’s Office for Idaho claimed Shafer had stolen from her employer by inflating her paychecks.

Shafer also created ‘fictional employees’ and collected additional paychecks for them which were deposited into her bank accounts, per the filing.

She would then spend most of the stolen money at the Coeur d’Alene Casino in Idaho, according to court filings.

As she did that, her employer in Washington state fell behind on bills and its owners were forced to use their own money to keep paying employees.

On Wednesday, Shafer was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for wire fraud by Chief United States District Judge Amanda K Brailsford. The maximum penalty was 20 years.

Tahnya Hyung Shafer, 48, was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on Wednesday for stealing more than $1 million from her former employer

Court filings viewed by the Daily Mail said Shafer spent most of the stolen money at the Coeur d’Alene Casino (pictured) in Idaho

Shafer had pleaded guilty in March and admitted to one count of wire fraud as part of the agreement. Another 26 wire fraud counts, plus money laundering charges, were dismissed.

The indictment said that Shafer maintained multiple bank accounts in her name registered at her residence in Idaho while carrying out the scam.

The fraud also included a scheme in which Shafer effectively sent herself payments that the company intended for vendors, according to the legal document.

This happened once Shafer started overseeing accounts payable in 2023, which the indictment said ’empowered’ her to log into the employer’s online bank accounts.

Once a payment was entered into the online banking system, another member of Spokane Industries would approve the payment.

Shafer would create payments to vendors that seemed legitimate, but would alter key details like the account number so that the money ended up in her bank accounts instead, per the filing.

In addition to gambling at the Idaho casino, Shafer also used more than $120,000 to pay off a home equity line of credit, per the indictment.

Her stealing left Spokane Industries, which was founded in 1952, bankrupt, according to the Spokesman-Review.

Chief United States District Judge Amanda K. Brailsford sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on Wednesday

Spokane Industries is a small steel and iron castings business in Spokane Valley, Washington

Spokane Industries is expected to emerge from bankruptcy in the next 1 or 2 months, according to the company’s bankruptcy attorney Thomas Buford

The bankruptcy attorney for the company, Thomas Buford, told the outlet that the company was expected to exit bankruptcy over the next couple of months.

That will happen once most of its major creditors settle on a reorganization plan, according to Buford.

Spokane Industries’ co-owner Patrick Turner said the company originally intended to ‘expand’ but encountered ‘major and unforeseeable setbacks.’

Turner referenced the money Shafer ‘fraudulently obtained’ from the company when filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, per the outlet.

Shafer was ordered to pay more than $1m in restitution to her former employer by Judge Brailsford.

She was also told to forfeit a property in the 3900 block of North Belmont Road in Coeur d’Alene, per court filings.

After Shafer completes her prison sentence, she will be placed on supervised release for three years.

The Daily Mail has reached out to Shafer’s attorney, Matthew Francis Duggan, and Buford, Spokane Industries’ bankruptcy attorney, for comment.

The US Attorney’s Office in the District of Idaho told the Daily Mail on Friday that it had nothing to add about Shafer’s case.