The United States Attorney's Office announced that during a federal court session in Billings, on July 17, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Sam E. Haddon, ANGELA CORSON SMITH, a 32-year-old resident of Billings, pled guilty to bank fraud. Sentencing has been set for Oct. 28, 2013. She is currently released on special conditions.
In an Offer of Proof filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica T. Fehr, the government stated it would have proved at trial the following:
On Oct. 23, 2009, SMITH submitted an application for a home equity loan to Altana Federal Credit Union. Altana Federal Credit Union is federally insured and was at the time of the conduct. In support of the home equity loan SMITH presented a power of attorney purporting to give her authority to sign for her husband, B.S. The power of attorney contained a forged signature of B.S. as well as his father who was listed as a witness to the document. The document was notarized by Angela Corson, SMITH's maiden name. The bank would not have authorized the home equity loan with B.S.'s consent so the forged power of attorney was material to the decision of the bank. In addition to forging the power of attorney, SMITH also forged all of the loan documents for the bank, some of which were not signed until May of 2010.
SMITH faces possible penalties of 30 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine, and 5 years supervised release.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
