United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

FORMER FIRST NATIONAL BANK BOARD MEMBER SENTENCED
TO FEDERAL PRISON FOR CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT MONEY LAUNDERING

LUBBOCK, Tx. — Lubbock resident, Kim Morris, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 18 months and ordered to pay $69,000 restitution, announced U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Morris pled guilty June to one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Judge Cummings ordered that Morris, 53, surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on October 5, 2007.

Kim Morris was a member of the Board of Directors and on the Board of Directors Loan Committee at First National Bank (FNB) in Lubbock, Texas. In August 2002, Morris was having financial difficulties and asked her longtime friend, David Jarratt, who was a long time banking customer of Robert Hobgood, the President and Chairman of the Board of Directors at FNB, for a loan. Jarratt did not have the financial means to loan money to Morris, so Morris and Hobgood induced and persuaded Jarratt to act as a nominee loan borrower to obtain a fraudulent $70,000 loan from FNB for Morris. On August 29, 2002, Morris and Hobgood fraudulently made a $70,000 loan to Jarratt, falsely representing to FNB that the purpose of the loan was for business operating expenses for Jarratt.

Robert Hobgood also pled guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Cummings on October 5, 2007.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation and Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Paulina Jacobo of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office.

###