A woman from St. Louis, Missouri on Wednesday admitted defrauding her 96-year-old grandmother.
Alexis Butler, 35, waived her right to indictment by a grand jury and entered a guilty plea in front of U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark to one felony count of bank fraud. Butler admitted that sometime before Dec. 2, 2022, she obtained the personal identifying information of her grandmother, as well as her grandmother’s account information at St. Louis Community Credit Union. She then obtained online access to the account.
On Dec. 2, 2022, she transferred $2,000 to someone else. The next day, she opened an account for herself at the credit union and began transferring her grandmother’s money to her account. Butler admitted as part of her guilty plea that from Dec. 2, 2022, to Jan. 19, 2023, she fraudulently withdrew $26,700 from her grandmother’s account. Butler re-deposited $7,500 into the account on January 6th.
Both sides have agreed to recommend a sentence of three years in prison for Butler, and she will be ordered to repay the money.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Pagedale Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry is prosecuting the case.
