United States of America v. Laura Parrish

Little Rock, Arkansas, criminal defense lawyer represented the Defendant charged with bank theft.

By Kent Morlan

Laura Parrish embezzled funds from one family, including one family member who was deceased, in the approximate amount of $364,000. Parrish used these funds to make payments on her personal credit cards and loans to benefit herself, her business, Southern Roots and Blooms, or accounts held in the names of her husband, daughter, and other family members. On January 24, 2023, Parrish submitted a credit card application for a retail credit card using the name, date of birth, and social security number of one of the bank’s customers. Parrish placed her address and phone number on the application and between February 2023 and January 2024, made payments totaling $15,000 on the credit card. This bank customer passed away in March 2023, and Parrish continued to embezzle funds from this account. Between July 2021 and January 2024, Parrish embezzled approximately $413,871.40 from eight bank customers.

“This individual abused a position of trust to steal from hardworking Arkansans, including some of our most vulnerable citizens,” said Jason Van Goor, Special Agent in Charge of the Little Rock Field Office, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). “The FBI will continue working with our partners to hold fraudsters accountable and pursue justice for victims.”

“Laura Parrish abused her bank position to embezzle funds from innocent customers for her own benefit and has now been brought to justice,” said John T. Perez, Special Agent in Charge, Headquarters Operations, Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (FRB-CFPB OIG). “This sentence should serve as a warning that we will vigorously pursue bank insiders who defraud financial institutions regulated and supervised by the Federal Reserve Board. We are proud to have worked with our federal law enforcement partners and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to achieve this result.”

“It is especially concerning when bank insiders abuse their positions of trust to victimize unwitting bank customers, as was the case with Ms. Parrish” said Jeff Thomson, Acting Special Agent in Charge, from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General’s (FDIC OIG) Dallas Region. “The FDIC OIG will continue to join with our colleagues in ensuring that those who selfishly steal for personal gain are held accountable.”

“Laura Parrish took advantage of her position at the bank to take money that did not belong to her and caused significant damage to the bank and its most vulnerable customers impacted by her brazen act of theft,” United States Attorney Ross said. “Our office will continue to work with its law enforcement partners to see that employees like Parrish who elect to violate their fiduciary obligations are held accountable for their criminal acts that negatively and significantly impact bank operations and its customers.”

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Office of Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General.

The Defendant was found guilty and was sentenced to 36 months in prison.