TOPEKA — A 52-year-old St. Mary’s man has pleaded guilty in federal court to stealing nearly $600,000 from his mother’s trust fund. U.S. Attorney Lanny Welch said Kent Joseph Gockel pleaded guilty to 11 counts of bank fraud. Gockel’s father owned a grocery store in Saint Mary’s and established two living trusts for his wife and children, Welch said. Two years ago, Gockel’s mother learned that her trust account at Silver Lake Bank was overdrawn. Welch said she looked at her bank records and found that her son had looted the trust. Six months later, she learned Gockel had emptied another of her accounts at another bank. Sentencing is Aug. 16.
Tuesday, May 11, 6:30 a.m.
