B Kenneth James Stopkotte, 48, of Nashville, Tennessee, was indicted yesterday by a federal grand jury and charged with bank larceny, money laundering, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced David Rivera, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee, and Todd Hudson, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Secret Service.
According to the indictment, between August 27, 2012, and February 28, 2013, Stopkotte stole approximately $181,608.52 in donation checks from the mailboxes of numerous churches in the Nashville area. Stopkotte deposited the checks in accounts which he controlled at SunTrust Bank, First Tennessee Bank, Regions Bank, the Bank of Nashville and the Navy Federal Credit Union. Additionally, Stopkotte transferred approximately $70.000 of the stolen funds from these various bank accounts to an account that he controlled at USAA Federal Savings Bank. Stopkotte then laundered approximately $48,000 of the money by nine wire transfers in varying amounts into an account titled Black Marlin Industries located at the Federal Bank of the Middle East in Nicosia, Cyprus.
Also, according to the indictment, during the period of December 15, 2011, through January 19, 2012, Stopkotte used a credit card that had been issued to another person to charge approximately $13,631.45 in payments and other things of value, while using a means of identification of another person during the credit card transactions.
USDOJ press release link: click here