LAKEWOOD MAN SENTENCED TO 18 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR BANK FRAUD
Former Employee of Key Bank Drained More Than $138,000 from Customer Accounts
JEHOSHUA SEAN KILEN, 27, of Lakewood, Washington, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to 18 months in prison and five years of supervised release for Bank Fraud. KILEN used his inside knowledge as an employee of Key Bank to steal more than $138,000 from customer accounts. At sentencing U.S. District Judge Ronald B. Leighton told him, “What you did was not just wrong, it was very wrong.”
KILEN was employed as a Relationship Manager at Key Bank in June, 2006. KILEN had access to Key Bank’s computer system and used it to look up customer accounts, their status and to issue debit cards and PIN numbers. KILEN noticed that some accounts were inactive. He used this knowledge to transfer money from the accounts of two deceased Key Bank customers for his own use. As the scheme continued, KILEN issued unauthorized debit cards and pin numbers on four different accounts, and withdrew money from these accounts for his own use. Key Bank was able to recover some of the money KILEN attempted to transfer or withdraw.
KILEN quit the bank and moved to California. He was arrested there by law enforcement for the bank fraud in February, 2007. KILEN pleaded guilty to one count of Bank Fraud on May 2, 2007.
In his sentencing memo, Assistant United States Attorney Vince Lombardi notes that the motive for the crime appears to be simple greed. “Mr. Kilen appears to have committed this crime because he thought it gave him a chance to make easy money, to escape from a job he apparently thought was beneath him, and because he did not think he would get caught,” Lombardi wrote in his memo to the court.
The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG), the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Marshals’ Regional Fugitive Task Force in Los Angeles.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Vince Lombardi and David Reese Jennings.
For additional information please contact Emily Langlie, Public Affairs Officer for the United States Attorney’s Office, at (206) 553-4110.
