Lake County financial fraud: 3 charged with stealing $700K from suburban village

article

[L-R] Vanessa Yarbrough and Phillip Sanders.  (Winthrop Harbor Police)

WINTHROP HARBOR, Ill. - Three people were charged with felonies after a year-long financial crimes investigation into nearly $700,000 in fraudulent transactions from the Village of Winthrop Harbor’s bank account, authorities said.

The backstory:

The investigation began in February 2024 after village officials reported unauthorized transactions between October 2022 and October 2023. While a significant portion of the funds were recovered by the bank’s fraud department, authorities tracked the fraudulent transactions to individuals in Las Vegas and Memphis.

After the investigation, the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office approved felony charges against three suspects: Phillip Sanders, Vanessa Yarbrough and Patrick Dickens.

Each of them was charged with theft, continuing financial crimes enterprise, money laundering and misappropriation of financial institution property. Sanders and Dickens were also each charged with computer fraud. 

Authorities arrested Sanders, Yarbrough and Dickens in different Tennessee cities on Feb. 27. Law enforcement also executed search warrants and seized additional evidence.

What they're saying:

Officials said additional charges are pending.

"This investigation took approximately 1 year to complete with countless hours being dedicated to it. In cases such as these, with a low solvability factor and where suspects are rarely identified, WHPD detectives were able to charge several offenders with numerous felonies. This is a testament to their investigative skills and dedication to their profession," Winthrop Harbor Police Chief Anthony Velardi said in a statement.

The investigation was conducted by the Winthrop Harbor Police Department, in collaboration with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations.