Two Reagor-Dykes Employees Enter Plea Of Guilty In Check Kiting Scheme

Two former employees of the  Reagor-Dykes Auto Group have pled guilty for their role in a $23 million check-kiting scheme.

52-year-old Sheila Evans Miller and 53-year-old Diana Herrera Urias entered their plea of guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud on Friday, September. 20th.

Miller, who was a group controller, and Urias, who was an office manager, admitted the auto group engaged in a plot that concealed fraud by cross-depositing checks across several banks also known as check kiting under the direction of the auto group’s former Chief Financial Officer, Shane Smith.

The auto group is also said to have had an entire headquarters designed to kite checks.

Court documents say that checks that should have bounced instead cleared during banks’ float time, the period between the deposit in the recipient account and the deduction from the payer’s account.

The auto group was struggling with expenses because of its growth, above-market compensation, and unnecessary overhead,

Both face up to five years in federal prison and could be required to pay at least $23 million in restitution.

Smith faces up to 20 years in federal prison and will be required to pay mandatory restitution of more than $50 million and has a court date in early October.