Kathleen Morris, 34, of Truro, Massachusetts pleaded guilty yesterday to charges she misappropriated $179,397 from the Seamen's Bank in Provincetown where she had been employed as a commercial lending vice president. According to prosecutors, Morris created 15 false loan applications from 2007 to 2009 in the names of friends and family members, including her mother Jean Bodman, which she then approved herself. Morris claimed she took the money to help her mother who had been financially victimized by a sibling with a drug problem. However, prosecutors showed that Morris bought motor vehicles and went on a Caribbean cruise with some of the ill-gotten gains. Morris, who was originally charged on 47 fraud counts last year, was sentenced to 2½ years in jail with one year to be served, five years of probation, continued psychiatric counseling and full restitution to Seamen's Bank. She has also been banned from working in the financial industry for life. Morris reportedly started at Seaman's Bank in 1997 as a teller and worked her way up to vice president.Read FraudTalk's original post on this story here.
