By Michael Bushnell
Northeast News
September 9, 2011

Mary Ellen Schorgl of Northeast Kansas City pleaded guilty Friday to federal bank fraud charges in United States Federal Court as part of a plea agreement.

According to court documents, Schorgl was employed by Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. (AWG) as the company’s lease administration manager until May of 2011 and was responsible for managing properties owned by AWG. As part of that position, Schorgl oversaw the payment of leases, property taxes and vendors for repair and maintenance of those properties.

As part of the scheme, Schorgl created false invoices for Bradley Operating Company, an AWG vendor in the Chicago, Ill., area totaling over $103,000. Those checks were deposited to an account she opened under the name Mary E. Schorgl dba Bradley Operating Company. An internal AWG audit initiated in April of 2011 noted large discrepancies with respect to payments to vendors. Those discrepancies, according to court documents, continued to grow as the investigation progressed.

Schorgl admitted that she submitted false invoices to AWG for payment. She then, according to the court file, requested those checks be returned directly to her, claiming she would deliver them to the vendor or service provider. Instead, she often forged the payee’s name on the check and made the check payable to J&L Electric, a Northeast Kansas City based company owned by Schorgl and her husband, Jim.

Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Schorgl must liquidate the entire balance of her 401K at AWG totaling roughly $43,000 as part of her restitution to AWG. Under federal statutes, Schorgl is subject to a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without the possibility of parole plus a fine of $1 million. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

In February, Schorgl’s daughter Katherine Schorgl-Bazzano, 23, of Kansas City was arrested for fraudulently using a doctors D.E.A. number to call in prescriptions for herself to obtain Vicodin and Xanax. Schorgl-Bazzano was charged with fraudulently obtaining a controlled substance and is wanted on felony warrants in Platte County and Clay County, Missouri. Charges are still pending in Jackson County, Missouri. She is facing four counts of a class D felony and each count carries up to four years in jail.

Schorgl-Bazzano had been residing with her parents in Northeast Kansas City. Those with information about her whereabouts should call the Kansas City police at (816) 234-5111.