Thirteen days after former employee Megan Dougherty pleaded guilty to embezzling $2,393,288 from Exchange Bank of Missouri (EBMO), the bank has filed suit against her along with her former husband and in-laws over land purchased with the stolen funds.

The suit was filed on Wednesday, August 7, in Howard County court. The bank is petitioning the court for land that was, at least partially, paid for with money Ms. Dougherty stole from customer accounts over a 15-year period. The suit lists Megan Dougherty, Marshall Dougherty, and Brenda and Harry Dougherty. 

“Each Defendant has been unjustly enriched by the application of such misappropriated funds for the purchase and improvement of the Real Estate, the purchase of the Equipment, and all other assets traceable to the funds misappropriated from Plaintiff by Defendant Megan L. Dougherty, having obtained substantial assets that in equity and good conscious belong to Plaintiff,” the petition states.

As was previously reported by the Advertiser, Megan Dougherty pleaded guilty in federal court on July 25 to stealing $2,393,288 from EBMO customers from 2008 to 2023. During that time, she was employed by the bank in the I.T. and customer service department at the Fayette branch. According to the plea agreement, she detected a lack of internal controls and began removing small amounts of money from customer accounts into her own savings account and then to her checking account. Eventually, she also transferred stolen funds into the checking accounts of family members. She later switched to taking from customers’ certificates of deposit accounts.

Ms. Dougherty falsified the description of these transfers in the bank’s computer systems to conceal her theft. She also rotated which accounts she took funds from to avoid detection and would steal from one account to reimburse another.

When the bank discovered the theft in October 2023, Dougherty was actively stealing from seven customers, some of whom had multiple accounts affected. Records reveal that more than a dozen other customers were also victims of Dougherty’s theft, but those accounts were reimbursed when she began victimizing new accounts.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Ms. Dougherty must forfeit to the government her interest in nine parcels of real estate in Howard County and a money judgment of $2,393,288. She is currently awaiting sentencing and faces up to 30 years in federal prison without parole. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

A civil case is also pending in federal court regarding lands her former husband and his parents own. On July 18, Western District Judge Brian C. Wimes granted a motion by Assistant U.S. Attorney Tony Brown for a 90-day stay on the case while criminal proceedings are resolved.

No court date has been set in the bank’s lawsuit.