Ballard County Judge Exec & Former Treasurer Charged in $450K Fraud

Ballard County Judge-Executive Vickie Louise Viniard, 60, and former County Treasurer Belinda Janean Foster, 50, were indicted November 15, 2016, on federal charges of bank fraud, wire fraud, and making false statements on a loan application — accused of stealing $450,000 in unauthorized loans backed by a $504,038.54 county Certificate of Deposit.

The scheme unfolded between April 2014 and October 2015, when Viniard and Foster allegedly duped First Community Bank in Wickliffe, Kentucky, into approving two major loans — one for $300,000 and another for $150,000 — by falsely claiming Viniard had authority from the Ballard County Fiscal Court to pledge county assets as collateral. That approval never came. The Fiscal Court was kept in the dark, unaware their CD was being used to secure private loan deals.

On April 17, 2014, Viniard applied for the first $300,000 loan, pledging the county’s CD as collateral. The bank wired the full amount into the county’s account. Then, on June 12, 2014, Viniard and Foster applied for a second $150,000 loan, again using the same CD — now double-pledged and overleveraged. Of that sum, $50,000 went to the county account, while $100,000 was electronically transferred to Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio, to cover part of a county bond — all without approval.

Even more brazen, Viniard allegedly forged internal authorization, signing documents that granted herself borrowing rights as Judge-Executive. No such authority was ever conferred by the Fiscal Court. She then directed Foster to bury the paper trail by reclassifying the loan deposits as ‘payroll tax’ receipts — outright lies in the books — while the $100,000 wire transfer to Ohio vanished from official records.

Foster didn’t stop at cover-ups. Using her power to issue medical reimbursement checks, she allegedly funneled at least $27,000 to herself and others under false pretenses — another layer of theft piled onto the fraud. She was arraigned in U.S. District Court in Paducah before Magistrate Judge Lanny King. Viniard’s first appearance is pending.

If convicted, each count of bank fraud and making false statements carries up to 30 years in prison; wire fraud charges bring up to 20 years per count. Fines could hit $2 million for fraud, $250,000 for wire fraud. The case is led by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nute Bonner, with investigation by the FBI and Kentucky Attorney General’s Office. The indictment is not a conviction — but the evidence paints a damning picture of power abused and public trust shattered.