Former Mullan Woman Pleads Guilty to Contempt for Concealing Sale of Property in Bankruptcy Case

Former Mullan, Idaho resident Vicki Jean Fehrs, 56, now living in Oregon, pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court in Coeur d'Alene, to contempt, a misdemeanor, for willfully disobeying a lawful order of a bankruptcy court, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced.

According to court documents, Fehrs, a debtor in a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filed in 2005 in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Idaho, concealed her pre-bankruptcy transfer of a Mullan property to her son. After receiving a discharge in her bankruptcy case in 2006, Fehrs sold the property and kept the sales proceeds of $47,928, some of which she used to purchase a home in Washington state. Fehrs failed to disclose the sale proceeds to the trustee or creditors in her bankruptcy case.

The charge carries a maximum punishment of up to six months in prison, a fine of up to $1,000, and up to one year of supervised release.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 20, 2011, before Chief U.S. Magistrate Judge Candy W. Dale, in Coeur d'Alene.

The case was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Office of the United States Trustee.