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Urbanovsky sentenced for stealing from employees

Posted at 5:29 PM, Jun 21, 2017
and last updated 2017-06-22 10:39:30-04

The woman behind the Creative Creations voucher scheme is back in court to be punished for ripping off her own employees.  Patricia Urbanovsky, owner of Creative Creations, is behind the biggest Omaha scam in recent memory and is sentenced to 7-11 years in state prison for felony theft.

In 2014 and 2015 Urbanovsky, 32, sold Southwest Airlines travel vouchers to hundreds of people to travel anywhere in the US for a flat rate.  She said she had a connection at the airline that would honor the discount.  In total she didn’t honor more than $4.7 million in vouchers.

Urbanovsky was already sentenced in federal court to 5 years for wire fraud in the scheme.

In state court, Judge Leigh Ann Retelsdorf punished her for tricking two employees into putting $40,000 on their credit cards to pay for customer trips, and not paying them back.

"I can't sentence this defendant for any other perceived wrongs or any other victims that may have been out there," Judge Retelsdorf explained.

Victims like Gus McNair say she deserves more time behind bars.

“I'm sure like everyone else you feel violated. You feel that something unfair has been done to you and you spend good money and have someone not give you something for it,” McNair described.  "She ruined people's weddings, she ruined people's trips and personal plans and she should be held accountable.

The federal and state sentences will run at the same time, so she likely won’t spend any extra days in prison.

She was previously ordered to pay $4.7 million dollars in restitution.