Bank Fraud

A Philadelphia woman who faked having life-threatening cancer in order to delay reporting to prison in 2007 for stealing money from the bank accounts of elderly customers, was sentenced to almost five years in federal prison Thursday. After LeAnn Moock, 35, of Parkwood Manor, received a four-month sentence in 2007 and was permitted to self-report to prison, she began an elaborate scam, prosecutors said. Prosecutors said in court papers that Moock fooled her own attorney and the presiding judge in the 2007 case into believing she was in constant pain, being treated with extensive chemotherapy, radiation and surgery and was expected to die soon.

A real estate investor once described by tenants as a "millionaire slumlord" was charged Friday with defrauding banks of $10 million in an effort to shore up his rowhouse empire in Kensington and Port Richmond. The charges against Robert Coyle Sr., 66, of Glassboro, were handed up by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia. Coyle is accused of defrauding the East River Bank and Republic First Bank of more than $10 million in 2007 - at the height of the real estate bubble - by lying to the banks about property titles and income from rental houses put up as collateral.

A real estate investor once described by tenants as a "millionaire slumlord" was charged Friday with defrauding banks of $10 million in an effort to shore up his rowhouse empire in Kensington and Port Richmond. The charges against Robert Coyle Sr., 66, of Glassboro, were handed up by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia. Coyle is accused of defrauding the East River Bank and Republic First Bank of more than $10 million in 2007 - at the height of the real estate bubble - by lying to the banks about property titles and income from rental houses put up as collateral.

HERE'S WHAT WILL make news in Philly this week: SCHOOLS Supe-search hearing The Philadelphia School District will continue its series of community forums as part of the search for a new superintendent with three meetings this week. The meetings, organized by the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Penn Project for Civic Engagement, are all at 6:30; tonight at West Philadelphia High School, Wednesday at Strawberry Mansion High School and Thursday at Edison High School.

The former chief executive officer of a charter school in Northwest Philadelphia pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than $500,000 in taxpayer funds intended for the school. Ina M. Walker, the onetime top official of New Media Technology Charter School, appeared Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court and told Judge Jan E. DuBois that she wanted to change her plea to guilty to theft and fraud charges. In her plea agreement, Walker, 59, of West Mount Airy, admitted to all 28 counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, theft from a federally funded program, and bank fraud.

The former chief executive officer of a charter school in Northwest Philadelphia pleaded guilty Friday to stealing more than $500,000 in taxpayer funds intended for the school. Ina M. Walker, the onetime top official of New Media Technology Charter School, appeared Friday afternoon in U.S. District Court and told Judge Jan E. DuBois that she wanted to change her plea to guilty to theft and fraud charges. In her plea agreement, Walker, 59, of West Mount Airy, admitted to all 28 counts, including conspiracy, wire fraud, theft from a federally funded program, and bank fraud.

PITTSBURGH - An accounting director turned government witness has been sentenced to five years in federal prison and five years on federal probation for creating fake financial records that fooled auditors of the defunct soft-drink maker Le-Nature's Inc. Tammy Jo Andreycak, 44, had asked for probation or house arrest. She noted that she had began cooperating with investigators before she pleaded guilty in April 2008 to wire fraud, bank fraud, conspiracy, and filing a false tax return as part of fudging accounting records at the behest of former chief executive and company founder Gregory Podlucky.

Two former employees of Le-Nature's Inc. - one who helped authorities, one who fought them all the way to trial - were taken out of court in handcuffs Tuesday after a judge gave them substantial prison sentences. Sentenced to 15 years in prison is Robert B. Lynn, 67, of Ligonier, who was president of the Latrobe-based soft drink bottler before its 2006 collapse and the unraveling of its $800 million fraud scheme. Le-Nature's former accounting director, Tammy Andreycak, 44, of Latrobe, was sentenced to five years, after prosecutors said she was instrumental in their investigation and prosecution - including providing testimony against Lynn at his July trial.