UPDATE | Accountant charged with stealing $1 million from clients indicted on federal bank fraud charges

(WSAZ)
Published: Jan. 19, 2016 at 11:04 AM EST
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UPDATE 5/14/19 @ 2:15 p.m.

A West Virginia accountant accused of stealing more than $1 million from a client's account has been indicted on federal charges of bank fraud.

The Huntington Herald-Dispatch reports 59-year-old Kimberly Dawn Price's indictment comes more than two years after she was initially accused.

Price, also known as Kimberly Swann, was arrested over the allegations in January 2016 and charged with more than 900 counts of embezzlement, forgery and uttering. She was working at Huntington-based firm Hess, Stewart and Campbell PLLC when she was accused of embezzling the funds from a client who died in the fall of 2015.

The case was put on hold when federal authorities got involved. The federal indictment says she committed bank fraud from 2009 to 2015 by writing herself unauthorized checks from businesses.


UPDATE 1/25/16 @ 3:05 p.m.

A preliminary hearing sheds more light in a case of a former accountant from Huntington, charged with stealing $1 million from one of her clients.

Kimberly Price, 57, was arrested last week. She is charged with 302 counts of embezzlement, 326 counts of forgery, and 326 counts of uttering.

State Police say Price allegedly stole $1 million from a client while she was an accountant with Hess, Stewart and Campbell in Huntington.

Price appeared Monday in Cabell County Magistrate Court for her preliminary hearing.

During the hearing, West Virginia State Trooper Joshua Hensley testified and released more information about the evidence in the case.

Trooper Hensley says they launched the investigation when a family member of one of Price's clients contacted them to report their loved one's trust fund account was extremely low.

According to WVSP, Price said she was given a $9,000 loan from the victim, but she ended up taking more than $1 million.

According to investigators, Price used $11,000 to pay off her car, she paid off her son's student loans, went on trips, sent her son on trips, helped her son open a business, gave money to her boyfriend, opened a credit card, and use more than $100,000 for gambling.

Investigators say she moved money from other accounts the victim had because checks started to bounce.

They say she admitted to forging some of the checks and couldn't remember how many.

The theft happened between 2010 and 2015, according to investigators.

Price was allegedly getting ready to move to Florida for another job when the investigation started.

During Monday's hearing, the magistrate found probable cause to send the case to the grand jury.


ORIGINAL STORY 1/19/16

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A woman from Huntington is facing 900 counts in an embezzlement case, accused of stealing $1 million from clients at an accounting firm.

Kimberly Price, 57, is expected to be in court next week. She is charged with 302 counts of embezzlement, 326 counts of forgery, and 326 counts of uttering.

According to the criminal complaint, Price admitted in an audio recorded statement that from 2010 to 2015, while she was an accountant with Hess, Stewart and Campbell, she embezzled more than $1 million dollars from clients.

Investigators say a client died in 2015 and family members noticed the account was low and contacted the firm. Price allegedly took $1 million from that client, alone, according to the complaint.

Price allegedly admitted to writing checks to herself and forging the victim's signature, making money wire transfers, opening a credit card, and placing money into several accounts, including her son's and boyfriend's, according to the complaint.

Investigators say she also allegedly paid off a vehicle, went on trips, helped her son start a business, paid off her son's student loans, supported her boyfriend, and supported her own gambling habit.

According to the criminal complaint, Price took money from other accounts as well.