Former Kansas bank VP pleads guilty to stealing more than $100k

A former vice president of a Wabaunsee County bank pleaded guilty to embezzlement after an investigation found she stole from the bank and the city of Harveyville while serving as its treasurer.

In Monday’s plea, Debra Kay Converse, 60, agreed to pay $107,175.60 in restitution. Sentencing is set for March 9. Converse could face up to 30 years in federal prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

According to the plea agreement:

Converse resigned as the vice president of The First National Bank of Harveyville on March 29. In April, the bank president reported to the Wabaunsee County Sheriff’s Office that he suspected Converse of embezzling.

The missing money was traced back to 2014, which is when the bank’s current software was installed. Converse stole at least $14,000 each year until 2019, when her tenure was cut short with her resignation.

Bank president Richard Mohler was first notified by an employee in February about a “change code anomaly” within the bank’s software. Bank officials checked transactions from the prior two weeks and noticed other codes being changed and small amounts of cash missing.

“The next day when Mohler asked Converse about the changes, she stated it was a glitch … in the software that would be corrected at the end of the quarter,” the document says.

The bank found a total of $101,475.60 missing.

In Converse’s role as Harveyville treasurer, she cashed a $100 check each month for 57 months from the city that was intended to go to the bank for their services processing residents’ utility bills.

The checks were cashed from June 2014 to February 2019, for a total of $5,700. The total with the checks brought Converse’s restitution to $107,175.60.