Anita Gail Moody, 57, on Friday pleaded guilty to federal counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and arson.
According to information presented in court, for a decade Moody served as president of Enloe State Bank in Cooper, Texas - a prairie town of 2,000.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Moody had worked at the banking institution founded in Enloe in 1928 in various capacities from the time she was a teenager.
On May 11, 2019, a day before the bank was scheduled for a routine review by the Texas Department of Banking, someone had stacked files on the boardroom table and set them on fire.
The blaze was contained to the bank’s boardroom, but the entire building sustained smoke damage. The fire was later determined to be arson, according to a statement from the US Justice Department.
A subsequent investigation revealed that Moody had created more than 100 fake loans in the names of several people, including some actual bank customers.
Moody eventually admitted to starting the fire in the boardroom in a desperate bid to cover up the fraudulent loans.
She also confessed to using the $11million stolen from the bank between 2012-2019 to fund her boyfriend’s business, friends' businesses, and her own 'lifestyle.'
Moody has agreed to a sentence of 84 months in federal prison. She also must pay restitution in the amount of $11,136,241.82.
