Former Town Clerk and Town Council Member Pleads Guilty to Stealing More Than $195,000 From Town of Cusick

Spokane, Washington - Vanessa R. Waldref, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today that Luke Michael Servas, a former public official for the Town Cusick, Washington, pleaded guilty to Bank Fraud in connection with embezzling Town funds. United States District Judge Thomas O. Rice accepted Servas’s guilty plea and scheduled a sentencing hearing for November 13, 2024, in Spokane, Washington.

According to the plea agreement and other court filings, Servas embezzled more than $195,000 while employed as the Town Clerk for the town of Cusick, Washington between October 2022 and March 2023.  During that time period, Servas was also an elected member of the town council.  

Like many cities and towns, Cusick residents elect a town council, which selects a town clerk. The clerk is responsible for managing Cusick’s finances and financial accounts.  Cusick’s account also had two credit cards issued to make expenditures on behalf of the town: one issued to Cusick’s elected mayor, and one issued to Servas as town clerk. 

Servas fraudulently and without authority used the mayor’s town credit card, as well as his own town credit card, to embezzle and transfer more than $190,000 in public town funds from Cusick’s bank account to PayPal accounts owned and controlled by Servas and his spouse, and to a cryptocurrency account owned and controlled by Servas.

In March of 2023, other town officials expressed concern that funds were missing from the town’s account. Servas contacted the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office to report that between $150,000 and $200,000 had been stolen from the Town of Cusick’s operating bank account.  Servas indicated that these funds were stolen using the mayor’s credit card account and falsely stated that only the mayor had access to the account.  After making this report, Servas wrote a fraudulent $4,961 check from Cusick’s account to himself, forged the mayor’s signature as well as that of another town official, and cashed the check on or about March 20, 2023.

“Mr. Servas not only carried out a fraudulent scheme to rob a town of its financial resources, but when his colleagues noticed the money missing, Mr. Servas filed a report with law enforcement to hide his theft.” stated U.S. Attorney Waldref. “Mr. Servas took these actions while an elected public official with a moral duty and legal obligation to protect that money. Our communities trust elected officials to serve others, rather than to look after only their own self-interest. When elected officials abuse this trust by committing theft and lining their own pockets with taxpayer money, these officials devastate our communities and undermine our democratic system of government.  I commend the exceptional work done by the FBI and the Washington State Auditor’s Office to root out the fraud.  We will continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners to expose and prosecute public corruption, self-dealing, and fraud.”

“I’m sure a small town like Cusick could have used the nearly $200,000 Mr. Servas embezzled,” said Richard A. Collodi, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Seattle field office. “Even more disturbing, Mr. Servas served in a position of trust as the Town Clerk when he committed his fraud. Investigating the corruption of public officials remains one the FBI’s most important priorities.”

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Spokane Resident Agency, with investigative and logistical support from the Pend Oreille County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington State Auditor’s Office.  This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Dan Fruchter.