BIRMINGHAM – A federal judge this week sentenced a Mississippi man to nearly six years in prison for conspiring with his girlfriend to steal more than $1 million from the Birmingham surgical practice where she worked, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey and FBI Acting Special Agent in Charge David W. Archey.

U.S. District Court Judge Madeline Hughes Haikala sentenced ANTHONY T. MICHAEL, 43, of Jackson, Miss., to five years and 10 months in prison for conspiracy, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Michael pleaded guilty to the charges in March. The judge ordered him to pay $1.2 million in restitution and to forfeit the same amount to the government as proceeds of illegal activity.

Michael conspired with Anntwine Moss, 51, of Bessemer, to steal from Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery of Alabama between 2006 and 2013. Moss was office manager for the practice during that time and she and Michael were romantically involved.

U.S. District Court Judge Karon O. Bowdre sentenced Moss in May to three years and five months in prison on five counts of wire fraud and four counts of tax evasion in the case. The judge ordered Moss to pay $987,375 in restitution to the practice and to forfeit the same amount to the government.

According to court documents, Moss stole from the surgical practice by using her authority as office manager to write unauthorized checks to herself and to Michael, make unauthorized direct deposits into her account, and use the company’s credit cards for unauthorized personal purchases for herself and Michael. Moss had authority over several key functions at the surgical practice including payroll, accounting, bookkeeping and managing the office’s budget. She falsified her personal tax returns for several years by failing to report to the IRS the illicit income she stole from the practice.

The FBI and IRS investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Xavier O. Carter Sr. prosecuted.