The former office manager for Mountain State Justice admitted Monday that she cheated the nonprofit legal aid organization of more than $1 million over the past 12 years.
Kim Cooper pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and tax evasion. She faces a possible 25 years in prison when she's sentenced on April 20 by U.S. District Judge John Copenhaver Jr. in Charleston.
On Monday, Cooper, of St. Albans, told Copenhaver that she opened a secret bank account in 2004 at WesBanco in Mountain State Justice's name and cashed checks written to the organization. She used the money to pay credit card bills, rent and car payments, along with other personal expenses. She also paid the expenses of family members with the money.
A lawsuit filed last month by Mountain State Justice against Cooper and two of her children accuses Cooper's family of knowing and disregarding their mother's embezzlement scheme. If Erin Grinnan Burkill and Jeremy Cooper didn't know, they should have, the lawsuit in Kanawha Circuit Court claims.
Cooper responded to the lawsuit and asked that it be thrown out. She said she had already struck a deal with federal prosecutors and that her children knew nothing of her scheme.
Cooper said Monday that she was the only employee aware of the secret bank account, which she had signature authority over and kept the checkbook for.
It was in early July 2004 that Cooper began stealing certain checks mailed or delivered to Mountain State Justice. Cooper said she would deposit the checks, write a check to herself and to a close family member and deposit them into an account at City National Bank in her name.
Mountain State Justice provides legal services for low-income West Virginians in civil lawsuits. According to court documents, Cooper began working at the nonprofit agency in the late 1990s, performing clerical work. Her responsibilities grew over time and, eventually, she became the office manager at the organization's headquarters in Charleston.
Besides secretly opening and maintaining the WesBanco account, Cooper would omit the attorneys' fees checks from Mountain State Justice's cash log and hide all mail from WesBanco, she admitted. She also sent false and fraudulent quarterly income statements via email to members of Mountain State Justice's board of directors.
Cooper also never paid income tax on the money she admitted taking.
The deal she made with prosecutors requires she pay $1.5 million in restitution to Mountain State Justice and about $378,000 to the United States government.
In addition to those amounts, Cooper faces up to a $500,000 fine when she's sentenced.
Reach Kate White at kate.white@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-1723 or follow @KateLWhite on Twitter.