‘Compulsive Shopper’ Admits to Embezzlement of $1 Million

CHICAGO —  A former bookkeeper described by investigators as “another Imelda Marcos” has pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1 million from Domino’s Pizza Inc. to support her habit as a “compulsive shopper.”

Rebecca Rentfrow, 29, of suburban Schaumburg admitted Thursday writing company checks over three years to pay for lavish expenses, including eight first-class trips to Hawaii, shopping sprees at fashionable Michigan Avenue boutiques and the purchase of expensive jewelry and designer clothes.

Rentfrow spent $5,000 of the pizza maker’s money on a cocktail dress she wore to a company Christmas party, Assistant State’s Atty. Gael O’Brien said.

“She was the quintessential material woman,” O’Brien said. “She frittered the money away. She didn’t buy a house or a car, nothing futuristic. She just lived for now and had a great time.”

Rentfrow, the daughter of a minister, wrote company checks for her own purposes totaling $1.057 million between 1983 and March of this year.

The thefts were uncovered during a national audit by the company. Rentfrow then admitted the thefts, saying she was a “compulsive shopper,” O’Brien said.

Rentfrow, who was head bookkeeper for the pizza chain’s Midwest region, used the embezzled funds to buy a $12,000 diamond ring, four fur coats and 25 pairs of boots, O’Brien said.

“She was Schaumburg’s version of Imelda Marcos,” Investigator James Mack said.

Rentfrow, who earned about $30,000 a year, concealed the thefts by juggling the company’s accounts on a computer, O’Brien said. She explained the lavish spending by telling her family that she had a wealthy boyfriend, while telling her boyfriend that she had a wealthy family.

Sentencing was set for Oct. 24.