Joplin bank officers terminated, investigation under way

P. Lee Gilbert, chairman, president and CEO of the Springfield-based Mid-Missouri Bancshares Inc., confirmed in a telephone interview today that Scott Rosenthal (top right), president and CEO of Mid-Missouri Bank at 2230 E. 32nd St. in Joplin, and Kayla Muskrat (bottom right), a loan officer at the bank, were “terminated for cause.”

Gilbert declined to disclose the cause of termination, but said two other employees at that branch – Chris Couch and Frank McReynolds – have been suspended in addition to the terminations.

“The only thing I can tell you is that they’ll be suspended until the completion of the investigation,” Gilbert said. “The investigation will be centered around four different divisions: the Missouri Division of Finance, the (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.), the FBI and the bonding company.”

Rosenthal is a former employee of Southwest Missouri Bank and a former chairman of the board of the Joplin Area Chamber of Commerce. Joplin Tri-State Business left two messages today at the number listed for Rosenthal’s Carthage home. JTB also left a telephone message at Muskrat’s home. Neither call was immediately returned.

Gilbert said operations at the bank will continue as normal and no customer accounts are in question or under investigation at this time.

“Everything is all go,” Gilbert said. “It will continue to be ongoing just as it is.”

The 32nd Street location was formerly one of three locations of Bank of Joplin, a branch of Webb City Bank. The holding company for Bank of Joplin and Webb City Bank merged with two other companies into Mid-Missouri Bancshares Inc. in 2006. The banks had combined assets of about $800 million at the time.

According to the FDIC’s deposit market share report from June 30, 2006, Webb City Bank controlled almost 10 percent of the Joplin market with more than $210 million in deposits, making it the third largest bank in the market.

See Joplin Tri-State Business’ April 23 issue for more on this issue. JTB is Springfield Business Journal’s sister publication.[[In-content Ad]]