Former Guaranty Bank manager sentenced for fraud

A former Nixa Guaranty Bank branch manager was ordered to serve prison time and pay restitution of more than $500,000 for stealing $316,000 from elderly customers and tax fraud.

Jennifer Gunter, 34, of Republic, was sentenced July 30 by U.S. District Judge Greg Kays to three years and 10 months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Gunter to pay a total of $547,897 in restitution, according to a news release from the office of Tammy Dickinson, U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri.

Gunter was branch manager at Guaranty Bank's Nixa branch at 291 state Route CC and earlier at a Guaranty Bank in Springfield,1341 W. Battlefield Road, from August 2005 until her termination in November 2012. She pleaded guilty to bank fraud and filing a false tax return during that time.

According to the release, Gunter’s fraud was detected when she issued and authorized three checks on the bank account of a victim who had died the previous day. Gunter admitted from December 2006 until November 2012, she repeatedly accessed the bank accounts of four elderly bank customers, embezzling $316,598 during the six-year period.

The fraud included submitting false transaction tickets, withdrawal slips and cashiers checks with forged names, as well as setting customer bank statements to "do not mail" status so they wouldn't detect the imbalance.

Perpetuating the fraud, Gunter didn't report the ill-gotten income on her individual taxes 2009-12, totaling $257,602. According to the release, Gunter's actions resulted in additional taxes due of $50,140

This case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-Office of Inspector General, IRS-Criminal Investigation and the Christian County Sheriff’s Department.[[In-content Ad]]