CUSICK, Wash. – A former Cusick town clerk pled guilty to bank fraud in federal court for stealing money from the town’s bank accounts.
The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington said Luke Michael Servas’s guilty plea is connected to his embezzlement of town funds during his time in office.
According to the plea agreement, Servas embezzled more than $195,000 while working as the Cusick town clerk between October 2022 and March 2023. During that time, he was also an elected member of the town council.
As the elected town clerk, Servas was responsible for managing the city’s finances and financial accounts. He also had two credit cards issued to make purchases on behalf of the town. One of these cards were issued to the Cusick mayor and the other to Servas himself, though Servas had access to both credit cards.
Officials said Servas used the mayor’s credit card and his own without authority to transfer more than $190,000 from Cusick’s bank accounts to PayPal and cryptocurrency accounts owned by Servas and his wife.
In March of 2023, other town officials were worried about the funds going missing. Servas contacted the sheriff’s office to say between $150,000 and $200,000 had been stolen from the city’s bank account.
Servas told the sheriff’s office the money was stolen using the mayor’s credit card and told officers only the mayor had access to the account.
Officials said Servas then wrote a check for almost $5,000 from Cusick’s bank account to himself, forged the mayor’s signature and another town official’s signature, and cashed the check around March 20, 2023.
“Mr. Servas not only carried out a fraudulent scheme to rob a town of its financial resources, but when his colleagues noticed the money missing, Mr. Servas filed a report with law enforcement to hide his theft.” stated U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref. “Mr. Servas took these actions while an elected public official with a moral duty and legal obligation to protect that money. Our communities trust elected officials to serve others, rather than to look after only their own self-interest. When elected officials abuse this trust by committing theft and lining their own pockets with taxpayer money, these officials devastate our communities and undermine our democratic system of government.”
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for November 13, 2024 in Spokane.
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