Woman Sentenced For Defrauding Clients

April 19--A Bloomington woman was handed a five-year federal prison sentence Monday for stealing money from elderly and disabled people she served at a westside insurance and financial services business that has since closed.

U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker sentenced 47-year-old Cindy L. Lampkins to 60 months in prison after Lampkins pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud and one count of money laundering.

"Stealing retirement funds from elderly and disabled clients is an unthinkable crime," U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler said in a news release. "Victims who can't fend for themselves will have the U.S. Attorney's Office as their advocate, and we will hold people strictly accountable for their criminal actions."

According to Minkler, Lampkins was the vice-president of Kern Financial Group, which she owned and operated with her father, on Industrial Boulevard. She defrauded several clients between February 2010 and November 2013, advising clients to invest money through her company. She kept the cash instead of investing it on their behalf.

Investigators from the Internal Revenue Service and Indiana State Police looked into reports of financial problems and learned Lampkins lied to clients and provided them with fake financial statements to conceal her theft. According to the news release, Lampkins told several clients that she was investing their funds in high-interest annuities and told others their money was invested to cover funeral expenses when the time came.

Lampkins defrauded seven Kern Financial Group clients out of a total of $682,000, which the judge ordered her to repay in full. Minkler said Lampkins preyed on victims who were elderly or who had disabilities that made it difficult for them to read or understand complicated financial paperwork. When clients wanted to withdraw funds, she told them the investment funds could not be accessed for years.

Minkler said the money Lampkins stole financed casino visits, trips to Las Vegas and Florida, dining out and other personal and business expenses.

A financial fraud case against her father, Robert D. Kern, is pending, the news release said.

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