A Kidder attorney was sentenced in federal court on Monday for defrauding a North Kansas City bank in a series of loans totaling $866,810, according to John F. Wood, United State Attorney for the Western District of Missouri.
Dawn Renee Harpster, 38, of Kidder, was sentenced by U.S. Chief District Judge Fernando J. Gaitan, Jr., to four years and two months in federal prison without parole. The court also ordered Harpster to pay $866,810 in restitution. Harpster’s license to practice law has been suspended due to matters unrelated to this felony conviction; the status of her license will be reviewed by the appropriate authorities as a result of today’s sentencing.
Harpster was ordered to report to the Department of Corrections on Jan. 5, 2009, to begin her incarceration.
Under federal statutes, Harpster could have been subject to a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole for each of the five counts of bank fraud, plus a fine up to $1 million and an order of restitution.
On Nov. 28, 2007, Harpster pleaded guilty to five counts of bank fraud. Harpster, formerly doing business as Northwest Missouri Title Co., LLC, in Gallatin admitted that she defrauded Norbank by obtaining five loans totaling $866,810 between March 2006 and Dec. 26, 2006.
For each of those loans, Harpster falsely claimed to have contracts with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City, Utah, under which the LDS Church would purchase Daviess County properties from her. If Norbank would loan her the funds to purchase the properties, Harpster told the bank, then she would sell those properties to the LDS Church one year later at a price of at least $1,300 per acre above her original purchase price, or above the average appraised value of the properties.
For each of the five loans, Harpster submitted false and fraudulent Contracts for the Sale and Purchase of Real Estate in connection with applications for loans.
Harpster also told Norbank that Northwest Missouri Title would handle the closing and would obtain title insurance for her purchase of the properties and for the sale of the properties to the LDS Church. Harpster falsely represented to Norbank that she had obtained a title commitment and title insurance for each of the properties, when in fact she had not done so and the title insurance documents she provided to Norbank were false and fraudulent. Harpster falsely represented to Norbank that she had recorded deeds of trust from Northwest Missouri Title to Norbank, thereby securing the liens on the properties in the amounts of the loans.
When the bank disbursed the loans in the form of cashier’s checks, Harpster used the proceeds for personal expenditures and not for the purposes represented.
The Daviess County Recorder’s Office had become aware of a problem in the land records in February 2007, when two abstracting companies notified Recorder Georgia Maxwell that Northwest Missouri Title Company LLC had borrowed money from Norbank in North Kansas City on land for which the Recorder’s Office did not show Northwest Title as owner. The recorder took copies of the deeds in question to the Daviess County Sheriff and Prosecuting Attorney.
Daviess County Sheriff Kevin Heldenbrand then collected the evidence of the bank fraud and turned the case over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. In all, six mortgage deeds in Daviess County were in question. All land has now been cleared, according to Recorder Georgia Maxwell.
Sheriff Kevin Heldenbrand was pleased with the outcome of the case. He stated that it was a time-consuming case, and an accountant’s nightmare. He said he appreciated the help he received from the Recorder’s Office.
"It seems like it took a long time (for the sentencing)," the sheriff said. "But when you take the federal route, offenders will serve whatever time they get, instead of getting probation or shock time."
This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Linda Parker Marshall. It was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Daviess County Sheriff’s Office.
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