Former Employee of Financial Brokerage Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Identity Theft

A former employee of a financial brokerage firm who stole the identity of a client and fraudulently obtained over $36,000 from that client pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Teresa Dorenkamp, 42, from Mason City, Iowa, pled guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

In a plea agreement, Dorenkamp admitted that, while employed by a financial brokerage in Mason City, Iowa, she fraudulently obtained money from the firm’s clients by falsely depositing money belonging to the clients into Dorenkamp’s or her husband’s bank accounts. Dorenkamp admitted one such false deposit occurred on June 3, 2011, when Dorenkamp had $36,139.60 wire transferred from the client’s investment account into Dorenkamp’s own U.S. Bank account. Dorenkamp further admitted she used the name of and forged the signature of the client in order to complete the false deposit. Dorenkamp further admitted she caused $391,725.31 in fraudulent transfers to be made from client accounts into her or her husband’s bank accounts from 2007 through 2011.

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared. Dorenkamp was released on conditions pending sentencing. Dorenkamp faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years’ imprisonment and a possible maximum sentence of 22 years’ imprisonment; a fine equal to the greater of twice the loss caused by her offense, twice the gain caused by her offense, or $500,000; $200 in special assessments; and four years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Mason City Police Department.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. The case file number is 13-CR-03032.