Marksville woman sentenced to federal prison for defrauding Council on Aging

ALEXANDRIA, La. (WNTZ) – United States Attorney Brandon B. Brown announced that Kayla M. Vead a.k.a. Kayla Lachney, 41, of Marksville, Louisiana, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Dee D. Drell to 36 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release. Lachney pleaded guilty on July 20, 2023, to two counts of wire fraud as a result of embezzlement of funds. She was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $388,946.82.

According to information presented in court, Lachney began work for the Rapides Parish Council on Aging (“RPCOA”) as a bookkeeper on or about July 2018. Part of her duties included processing payroll, using the RPCOA credit card, and forwarding the Executive Director and their accounting firm with its financial records such as bank statements. Lachney had deposit accounts at financial institutions including Simmesport State Bank and Bank of Montgomery. 

Here's the Scheme

While employed at RPCOA, Lachney caused checks to be issued on its account, purportedly payable to vendors, but she actually forged endorsements and deposited those checks into her personal account.  To conceal her theft, which occurred while she was obtaining a discharge of debts via Chapter 13 bankruptcy, Lachney concealed and mislabeled her fraudulent checks in RPCOA’s internal accounting ledger. For example, on September 11, 2019, Lachney caused an RPCOA check to be issued on RPCOA's bank account made payable to Kayla Vead for $4,700. This check was in addition to her regular payroll check and deposited into her personal Bank of Montgomery account on or about September 11, 2019, after which she converted the funds to her own use. In another instance of her embezzlement scheme, on August 3, 2020, Lachney caused a check to be issued on RPCOA’s bank account made payable to Kayla Vead for $1,800.  This check was in addition to her regular payroll check and deposited into her Bank of Montgomery account, after which she converted the funds to her own use. Lachney provided an altered version of this check to RPCOA’s accounting firm, which made it appear as though this check had been issued to the D&T Wholesale Office. During her three-year scheme, Lachney wrongfully obtained over $100,000 each year on average and used those funds to establish businesses such as Southern Sass Closet and Kay’s Bridal Boutique.

The case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cytheria D. Jernigan.