Former Omaha Woman Sentenced to Prison for Wire Fraud

Acting United States Attorney Jan Sharp announced that Morgan L. Perkhiser, 37, formerly of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced on October 15, 2021, in federal court for wire fraud.  Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Perkhiser to 21 months’ imprisonment. There is no parole in the federal system.  After her release from prison, Perkhiser will begin a two-year term of supervised release.  Chief Judge Rossiter also ordered Perkhiser to pay $468,144 in restitution.

An investigation conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation determined that from December 2015 through December 2018 Perkhiser was employed by Omaha real estate business D. Thompson Realty as a junior office manager and bookkeeper.  While employed by D. Thompson Realty, Perkhiser had access to D. Thompson Realty bank accounts, checks, and other financial documents.  Perkhiser was authorized to write and sign checks issued from the D. Thompson Realty bank accounts for certain approved business-related purposes. 

While working for D. Thompson Realty Perkhiser electronically deposited into her personal bank account unauthorized checks written by Perkhiser made payable to herself or her husband.  On certain checks written to her husband, Perkhiser would fraudulently represent on the checks that payment was for legitimate business purposes.  In fact, those checks did not relate to any legitimate business purpose and were not authorized.  Checks written by Perkhiser made payable to herself were also not authorized by D. Thompson Realty and were not related to certain approved business-related purposes.  Perkhiser used her position with D. Thompson Realty as junior office manager and bookkeeper to conceal the unauthorized checks from her employer. 

To deposit each unauthorized check, Perkhiser would take a digital picture of the front and back of the unauthorized check with her cellphone and then using her bank’s mobile application, she would transmit (i.e. wire) those digital images in interstate commerce from the State of Nebraska to her bank’s servers, which are located in the State of California.  Once the image of an unauthorized check was wired by Perkhiser, the fraudulently obtained funds were credited to defendant’s bank account.

From December 2015 through December 2018 Perkhiser wrote approximately 190 unauthorized checks that were negotiated from D. Thompson Realty bank accounts to Perkhiser’s personal bank accounts or the account of her husband.  Loss to D. Thompson Realty totaled $468,144.  Perkhiser used the fraudulently obtained funds to pay for personal “lifestyle” expenses, which included online shopping, food, and other entertainment. 

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.