Taylor County woman sentenced for bank fraud

CLARKSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Karen Kinsley, of Grafton, West Virginia, was sentenced today to 36 months incarceration for taking out loans and opening accounts in bank customers’ names without their knowledge, United States Attorney Bill Powell announced.

Kinsley, age 46, pled guilty to one count of “Bank Fraud” in September 2018. Kinsley admitted to originating several loans in bank customers’ names without their consent or knowledge, reopening closed checking and saving accounts without the customers’ knowledge, and used some of the loan proceeds for personal use and some for payments on other fraudulent loans. Kinsley committed the crime while she was a branch manager of the Clear Mountain Bank inside the Kroger store in Sabraton, Monongalia County from June 2014 to September 2017.

The judge also ordered restitution in the amount of $170,219.19.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jarod J. Douglas prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office investigated.

Senior U.S. District Judge Irene M. Keeley presided.