photo by: Contributed

The Wyandotte County Courthouse

Two former employees of the Wyandotte County District Court have received prison sentences for using their positions in the accounting office to steal approximately $980,000 in taxpayer funds, according to a news release Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Kansas.

Julia Roberts, 65, of Leavenworth, and Vicki Robinson, 63, of Bonner Springs, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud conspiracy. A federal judge sentenced Roberts to 41 months in prison and Robinson to 27 months.

Roberts was the accounting supervisor and responsible for collecting and depositing funds into the Wyandotte County District Court’s bank account. She acted as Robinson’s superior until her retirement in 2020. Roberts and Robinson stole incoming cash and concealed the thefts by generating checks and forging the clerk of court’s signature, according to the release. They fabricated information on the memo lines to make the checks appear to be judgment disbursements or other legitimate court business. The checks functioned as a way to conceal the missing cash in the system.

During the time they were stealing money, Roberts had a significant number of transactions at a casino — over $1 million in 2017, $480,000 in 2018 and $251,000 in 2019. The amount dropped when she retired in 2020 to $30,000. Roberts also deposited more than $80,000 in cash into her personal bank accounts from 2018 to 2020. Robinson deposited $20,000 in cash into her bank account from 2021 to 2023.

In August 2025, the FBI interviewed Robinson, and she admitted that she had stolen money. She said Roberts showed her how to do it. Roberts told the FBI that she came up with the idea of stealing incoming cash. She said Robinson was involved from the beginning and at times they split the cash that was stolen.

Roberts’ and Robinson’s scheme resulted in a loss of $979,962 to the Wyandotte County District Court from 2018 to 2023. As part of their sentences, they are individually and collectively responsible for paying $979,962 in restitution.