A Democratic veteran campaign worker faces a hefty dose of justice due to a recent case where she pleaded guilty to the kinds of things that give politics a bad name.

A woman from Alexandria who worked as a campaign manager for more than 20 years has pleaded guilty to tax evasion and theft of campaign funds, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia, as The Washington Examiner reported.

Katharine Margaret Buchanan, 59, of Alexandria, admitted in federal court on Monday that she stole at least $840,069.98 in donated money from campaign committees and political action groups that she was treasurer for from 2020 to 2024.

It wasn't clear from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia which groups or candidates Buchanan worked for during the time of her crimes, but her history in politics was confirmed.

From the feds

The federal charges are related to stealing from three federal candidates, and the data from Virginia shows that she also worked for state campaigns during the same time period.

The Virginia Public Access Project records show that Buchanan got $104,400 from Virginia political groups between 2020 and 2024, which is the time frame of the alleged theft.

This included $72,000 from the campaign of former Attorney General Mark Herring, $26,400 from One Commonwealth PAC, and $6,000 from the campaign of Steven Peterson for mayor of Alexandria.

Most of the money was paid for legal, accounting, and banking services ($98,400) and work done by workers or consultants ($6,000).

Her background

Buchanan was a political campaign compliance consultant for over 20 years, usually as “Treasurer.”

According to the Virginia Public Access Project, she earned $375,959 for legal, accounting, and banking services to campaigns and $78,350 for staff and consultant labor.

Court documents show she used campaign funds to pay her personal credit cards, used official campaign credit cards for personal purchases, and transferred money from campaign bank accounts to her personal accounts.

The resident of Alexandria splurged on a variety of high-end personal expenditures using the stolen money, such as fine dining, landscaping, aesthetic services, a Peloton exercise bike, apparel, Italian airline tickets, concert suites and tickets, chartered yacht tours, and paid legal fees.

More charges

Along with embezzlement allegations, Buchanan under-reported her income to the IRS from 2017 to 2022, owing $671,200 in federal taxes, according to the case.

Buchanan's guilty plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr. on Monday at Alexandria's federal courtroom. She faces up to five years in prison for each charge and will be sentenced on October 8.

Erik S. Siebert, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Emily Odom, FBI Washington Field Office Criminal and Cyber Division Acting Special Agent in Charge; and Kareem A. Carter, IRS Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge, announced the case.