The Peoples Bank of Moniteau County recently filed a lawsuit accusing its former chief executive officer and former chief operations officer and others of embezzling more than $900,000.
The lawsuit filed May 18 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri names former CEO David Hampton and his wife, Sherry Hampton, as well as his daughter, former Chief Operations Officer Angela Flippin, and her boyfriend, Russell Philbert.
According to the complaint, the Hamptons were allegedly paying themselves comp time, which they were not entitled to as salaried employees, with funds from the bank’s employee benefits insurance account.
Further, the suit states that despite medical and other issues that made Flippin absent from work "for significant stretches of time in 2014," she received $110,982.20 in comp time that year in addition to her regular salary. In 2015, the suit alleges that despite a decreasing number of hours worked, Flippin received comp time totaling $126,307.40 on top of her regular salary.
"Flippin’s 2016 timesheet showed comp time for practically every day of the year including eight hours of comp time on Christmas Eve (Saturday), and nine hours of comp time on Christmas Day (Sunday)," the suit says.
She also submitted a timesheet showing comp time for a day that did not exist – Sept. 31.
Her 2016 timesheet showed she was paid 3,322 comp time hours, but bank records indicated that she paid herself the equivalent of 4,221 comp time hours that year, totaling $148,546.69, the suit states.
More timesheet and bank record discrepancies involving comp time occurred in 2017 before she was terminated, the suit claims.
David Hampton began working at the bank in 1990, Flippin began working at the bank in 1993 and both were terminated within a week of one another in February 2017, three months before a forensic accounting investigation report that revealed numerous transactions that allowed them to receive improper payments.
All totaled, Flippin received improper comp time disbursements of at least $637,120.06 between 2010 and 2017, the suit says.
As for Hampton, he received improper comp time payments of at least $164,028.95 between 2010 and 2017, the suit says.
In addition to seeking recovery of funds that were allegedly improperly taken, the bank wants the court to appoint a receiver to protect its interests in certain property owned by defendants.
The bank is represented by attorneys at the Polsinelli firm in St. Louis.