Former Brownstown Clerk-Treasurer Charged with $369,000 Fraud in Connection with Allegedly Taking Town Money

June 16, 2010 - INDIANAPOLIS—Rebecka A. Fee, 56, New Albany, Ind., was charged late yesterday with bank fraud, following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Indiana State Police, announced Timothy M. Morrison, U.S. Attorney, Southern District of Indiana.

The charge alleges that Rebecka A. Fee was appointed clerk-treasurer of the Town of Brownstown, Ind., in January 2000. As part of her job responsibilities, Fee processed the payroll for all Brownstown employees, including herself. Beginning in January, 2006 and continuing through October, 2009, Fee caused the town payroll checks which were payable to her to be inflated, and then cashed the checks retaining the excess proceeds. The alleged scheme was executed on 121 separate occasions and resulted in a loss to the Town of Brownstown of more than $369,000.

Fee's scheme was discovered as the result of an Indiana State Board of Accounts audit which commenced on October 1, 2009. Fee was suspended as clerk-treasurer on October 19, 2009, based upon preliminary information revealed in the audit.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James M. Warden, who is prosecuting the case for the government, Fee faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. An initial hearing will be scheduled before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.