Bucksport Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement and False Tax Return Charges

BANGOR, ME—United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty, II announced that Lynn M. Bowden, 62, of Bucksport, Maine, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to embezzlement and false tax return charges.

According to court documents, Bowden was hired by Merrill Merchants Bank (Merrill) in May 2004. Chittenden Corporation acquired Merrill in 2007. Merrill continued to operate as a separate unit of Chittenden Corporation until People’s United Bank acquired Chittenden Corporation in 2008. Bowden maintained her employment through these acquisitions and was working as a wealth management officer for People’s United Bank when her fraudulent conduct was discovered in October 2012. The bank terminated her employment on October 26, 2012. Before she was fired, Bowden managed more than 200 trust and investment management accounts.

During the period of April 4, 2005 to September 26, 2012, Bowden made 108 deposits and transfers of customer funds into her personal accounts for a total of $2,990,429.65. All the funds came from wealth management accounts that she managed as a wealth management officer. She used all the money for herself and for members of her family. Bowden failed to report to the Internal Revenue Service that she had received this income and that caused a tax loss of more than $750,000 for the period 2007 to 2011.

Bowden faces a sentence of up to 30 years of imprisonment and a fine of up to twice the gain or loss on the embezzlement charge and up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 on the false tax return charges. She will be sentenced after the completion of a presentence investigation report by the United States Probation Office.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigations.