A federal grand jury Wednesday indicted a 42-year-old former vice president of Lakewood-based Front Range Bank on charges she embezzled more than $92,000.
Candice L. White is in custody pending a formal arraignment in U.S. District Court on Monday. She is charged with 37 felony counts of embezzlement and willful misapplication of funds from a federally insured bank.
The U.S. attorney’s office prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, according to Jeffrey Dorschner, spokesman for U.S. Attorney John Walsh.
White was a senior vice president of Front Range Bank’s Centennial branch from October 2007 through April 2011, during which time she allegedly stole the money and pilfered funds from bank client accounts to cover up her theft from various business accounts, the indictment says.
The 39 transfers that make up the missing funds varied from as little as $646 to as much as $22,900, according to the indictment. All the money was funneled into a trust account White controlled, much of it later converted to cashier’s checks and deposited into a different bank.
White resigned her $100,000-a-year job at the bank in April 2011 — and received $25,000 of severance pay — but bank officials did not catch on to the missing money until she had left. In June 2011, the bank sued her in Arapahoe County District Court and obtained a judgment for $130,000 two months later.
Records show White has not repaid the money.
White faces up to 30 years in federal prison and up to $250,000 of fines per count if convicted.
She also faces two and willful misapplication of funds from a federally insured bank, charges that could bring up to a year in federal prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted.
Some of the thefts were brazen, according to the bank’s lawsuit.
At least once, White allegedly swiped $5,000 that came from an auctioneer who sold some possessions on behalf of a bank customer to repay a defaulted loan.
In another instance, White drafted an e-mail purportedly from a business client at the bank asking that she bring $5,000 cash to a meeting.
White gave the e-mail to a coworker who withdrew the funds and gave the money to White, according to the bank’s lawsuit.
Records show White has had some previous financial problems. Federal bankruptcy records show White and her then-husband, Wayman, 41, jointly filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004, listing $317,000 in liabilities against $324,000 in assets, none associated with Front Range. The couple divorced in 2005, Arapahoe County records show.
Candice White was evicted from a $1,400-a-month apartment in August 2011, court records show. And she was sued 91 times in 2005 for running the toll booths along E-470, court records show.
Omega Capital Corp. was Front Range Bank’s holding company when it borrowed $2.8 million in 2009 through the federal TARP Capital Purchase Program. Those warrants were sold in 2013 at auction at a $600,000 profit, U.S. Treasury records show.
The bank’s current holding company is FRB Bancshares, and the bank has three branches: in Centennial, Englewood and Lakewood, its main one.
A $239 million institution, Front Range recently was given a four-star rating by BauerFinancial Inc., a bank-rating company.
Front Range president Brian Soeldner did not return a call Wednesday seeking comment.
David Migoya: 303-954-1506, dmigoya@denverpost.com or twitter.com/davidmigoya
