Bank worker makes stealing a family affair

A former bank worker pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to stealing $650,000, with help from 11 friends and family members.

Lisa L. Taylor, 54, embezzled the money from May 2006 to October 2010, when she worked at UMB Bank, 1008 Oak St.

According to federal prosecutors and court records:

She generated 377 fraudulent checks, many to the friends and family members who then paid her part of the take.

She also had checks made to fictitious names, forged signatures on them and deposited them in her bank account.

She was able to do it because as part of her job she collected “charge off” amounts when a customer’s account had been closed.

Sometimes deposits would come in for a closed account and go into a general bank account. Taylor’s job involved requesting a refund check from the bank account to be sent to the former customer.

Taylor mixed in fraudulent checks with the others.

The friends and family members, most from Kansas City, pleaded guilty previously for their roles, prosecutors said.

The scheme fell apart when a corporate fraud investigator uncovered it, they said.

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