KC Reporter

A Higbee, Mo., woman pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing nearly $2.4 million from customers’ accounts at Exchange Bank of Missouri in Fayette, Mo., during a 15-year-long fraud scheme.

Megan Lea Dougherty, 36, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. Chief Magistrate Judge Willie J. Epps, Jr., to a federal information that charges her with one count of bank fraud.

Dougherty was employed at the Fayette branch of Exchange Bank of Missouri. By pleading guilty today, she admitted that she engaged in a scheme to embezzle money from Exchange Bank of Missouri from Jan. 1, 2009, to Oct. 17, 2023.

According to today’s plea agreement, Dougherty began working in the bank’s IT and customer service department in 2008. She detected a lack of internal controls and began removing small amounts of money from customer accounts into her own savings account and then to her checking account. Eventually, she also transferred stolen funds into the checking accounts of family members. Dougherty then switched to taking from customer certificate of deposit accounts.

Dougherty falsified the description of these transfers in the bank’s computer systems to conceal her theft. She also rotated which accounts she took funds from so as to avoid detection and would steal from one account to reimburse another, again to avoid detection.

At the time that Exchange Bank of Missouri discovered the theft, Dougherty was actively stealing from seven different bank customers, some of whom had multiple accounts affected. Records reveal that over a dozen other customers were also victims of Dougherty’s theft, but those accounts were reimbursed when she moved onto victimizing new accounts.

Dougherty told investigators she targeted customers who knew and trusted her. The records show that Dougherty stole a total of $2,393,288 from customers’ accounts.

Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Dougherty must forfeit to the government her interest in nine parcels of real estate in Howard County, Mo., and a money judgment of $2,393,288.

Under federal statutes, Dougherty is subject to a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole. The maximum statutory sentence is prescribed by Congress and is provided here for informational purposes as the sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the court based on the advisory sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors. 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 Melissa A. Pierce. It was investigated by the FBI.