Moniteau County bank sues former president, COO

A California bank has sued a father and daughter who served as its president and chief operating officer.

Federal court documents allege Angela Flippin, who served as COO of Peoples Bank of Moniteau County, diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars in improper payments to herself and the bank's former president David Hampton. The bank asked the court to force the pair to pay back almost $1 million plus attorneys' fees and other charges.

Hampton became the bank's president May 1, 1990. Flippin began her employment at the bank Feb. 1, 1993. Hampton was fired Feb. 21, 2017, and Flippin was fired Feb. 17, 2017.

Court documents say Flippin had access to all of the bank's accounting and computer systems, which gave her the ability to make payments and changes.

Beginning around 2010, the bank alleges, Flippin and Hampton began receiving improper payments by collecting overtime for hours they, as salaried employees, were not entitled to.

Flippin received comp time payments totaling $110,982.29 in addition to her regular salary in 2014, according to the complaint, despite medical issues that kept her away from the job for extended periods. In 2015, Flippin again missed a significant amount of work but received comp time payments of $126,307.40 plus her regular salary.

In 2016, her time sheet showed the equivalent of 3,322 hours of comp time, but Flippin paid herself $148,546.69 for 4,221 hours of comp time during that year, according to the complaint. All together, the complaint alleges Flippin received $637,120.06 in improper payments from 2010-17. Hampton received improper comp time disbursements of $164,028.95 during the same period, according to the complaint.

"Flippin's 2016 time sheet also showed comp time for a day that does not exist - September 31st," the complaint claims.

In 2014, Flippin began setting up recurring transactions ranging from $1,150-$4,301.56, according to the lawsuit. The transactions continued until June 30, 2015, when the bank began using a different payroll service.

"Flippin and Hampton were aware of and conspired to make the foregoing unauthorized payments," the suit says.

Russell Philbert, Flippin's romantic partner, also received $24,781.18 in improper payments that covered insurance premium payments the bank said he was never entitled to receive, the complaint states.

Hampton's wife and Flippin's mother, Sherry Hampton, occasionally received unauthorized payments made by Flippin, including a $100 payment made by her husband on Aug. 3, 2016. In addition to this payment, the complaint states that Sherry Hampton was aware of the other unauthorized payments made by Flippin or her husband.

"The Hamptons, Flippin and Philbert agreed to engage in a pattern of racketeering activity," the suit says. "Defendants' misappropriation repeatedly involved concealing their payments, distributions, diversions of funds and withdrawals at the bank to conceal the theft and embezzlement of the bank's funds."

The bank alleges the bank violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The Peoples Bank of Moniteau County asked the court to grant it at least $930,815.80 for direct losses suffered and for a judgment to include the cost of attorneys' fees.

A hearing for the case has not yet been set.