Former Bank Branch Manager Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement, False Tax Return

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that the former branch manager of a Mountain Grove, Mo., bank pleaded guilty in federal court today to embezzling approximately $140,000 from the bank and failing to pay taxes on that income.

Diana L. Emery, 47, of Mount Grove, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge M. Douglas Harpool to one count of making a false entry in banking documents and one count of filing a false federal income tax return.

Emery was employed by First Home Savings Bank (FHSB) for approximately 15 years, first as a bookkeeper and eventually as branch manager at FHSB in Mountain Grove.

By pleading guilty today, Emery admitted that she used her position to make unauthorized payments to herself from bank funds from 2008 to 2012. Emery secretly took money from the bank vault and concealed her theft by making false entries in FHSB’s books, reports and the electronic journal detail report. Emery embezzled at least $139,999 from FHSB, which she deposited into her personal checking accounts.

When Emery filed her federal income tax returns, she excluded her embezzlement income and thus underreported her income by $205,325 (of which at least $139,999 was embezzled from FHSB; the rest came from unidentified sources). This underreported income, along with additional unreported deposits, resulted in a total tax due and owing from 2008 through 2012 of $53,155.

Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Emery will be held accountable for her entire tax loss – which consists of the $53,155 tax due and owed for the tax years 2008 through 2012, plus any fees, penalties and restitution owed to the Internal Revenue Service and/or FHSB. The total amount of restitution owed to FHSB is $148,851 (which includes the embezzled amount plus expenses incurred by the bank as a result of her theft).

Under federal statutes, Emery is subject to a sentence of up to 33 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1,250,000 and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Abram McGull II. It was investigated by IRS-Criminal Investigation and the FBI.