CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — A former loan officer at AIM Credit Union has pleaded guilty in federal court to bankruptcy fraud and aggravated identity theft after admitting to a scheme involving the sale of vehicles securing credit union loans and the use of falsified documents to conceal the transactions, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Iowa.
Kylie Jo Bench, formerly known as Kylie Jo Parrish, 27, of Burlington, Iowa, entered the guilty plea May 27 in U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids. Prosecutors said Bench worked as a loan officer for AIM Credit Union at its Burlington branch after being hired in 2022.
According to court records and the plea agreement cited by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Bench had more than $100,000 in outstanding loans on two vehicles—a Ford and a Dodge—when she joined the credit union. After being hired, she and another individual refinanced those vehicle loans through AIM Credit Union.
The Allegations
Federal prosecutors alleged that in August 2022, Bench sold both vehicles to a Cedar Rapids dealership without the credit union’s knowledge and failed to disclose AIM Credit Union’s security interests in the vehicles. To facilitate the sales, Bench provided the dealership with a document purportedly signed by a credit union executive and printed on fraudulent letterhead stating the loans had been paid in full and carried a zero balance, prosecutors said. In reality, the loans remained outstanding.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Bench later caused false information to be filed in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding in March 2023. According to prosecutors, she falsely denied transferring property that benefited an insider, despite having sold the vehicles in transactions that benefited another individual who remained obligated on the loans.
‘Vehicle Lien-Stripping Scheme’
The federal charges stem from what prosecutors described as a vehicle lien-stripping scheme in which collateral securing loans was sold without satisfying the credit union’s liens. Court records available through the U.S. Attorney’s Office do not indicate that Bench admitted to or was charged with a loss amount of $262,634. Publicly available federal court documents instead reference vehicle loans exceeding $100,000.
Bench remains free on bond pending sentencing before Chief U.S. District Judge C.J. Williams. Prosecutors said she faces a mandatory minimum prison sentence of two years on the aggravated identity theft conviction and a potential maximum combined sentence of seven years, along with a possible $500,000 fine and up to three years of supervised release.
