The owner of a Pennsylvania title company has pleaded guilty to wire fraud.  Elizabeth Sichler, 58, of Harvey's Lake, PA, stole more than $1.9 million from customers through her business, Priority Search of Kingston, PA.

Prosecutors say that Sichler began stealing from her company's escrow accounts in 2005.  At that time, Priority Search was handling several dozen closings a month, leading to a constant balance in escrow accounts which she controlled.  This allowed Sichler to constantly mask the shortfall in her escrow account balances by paying off older obligations with money coming in from newer transactions.  Sichler would deceive parties at the closing by preparing checks for all of Priority Search's obligations for a closing, but would contact her bank and cancel payment on some checks or simply fail to send them.  Sichler would then divert those funds to herself to support her personal lifestyle and pay business expenses.

In 2007, Sichler's criminal activity escalated.  Beginning in July 2007, Sichler was not an agent of any title insurance underwriter, yet she still collected title insurance premiums at closings conducted by her comany and represented on closing documents that those premiums were used to purchase title policies.  In December 2007, Sichler entered an agency agreement with Investor's Title, but continued to fail to purchase title policies on behalf of customers on numerous occasions-- pocketing the premiums herself instead.

By June 2008, Sichler's company was no longer doing a sufficient volume of closings to maintain the increasing shortfalls caused by her embezzlement.  Priority Search's escrow accounts no longer carried a reliable positive.  Between June and December 2008, Sichler put stops on checks written on her escrow account a total of 193 times in her desperate attempts to maintain her scheme.

An investigation into possible criminal activity at Priority Search was initiated by the Secret Service in November 2008 when a victim discovered that a mortgage had not been paid off by the company, ruining their credit and causing other financial hardships.  As the situation became public, numerous additional victims became aware of mortgages dating back to 2005 which Priority had apparently failed to pay off.  In total, at least 58 such unpaid mortgages have been discovered. 

The mess left by Sichler extends to the public record.  In dozens of cases, Sichler failed to file documents in the public record in transactions handled by her company.  Instead, filing fees were pocketed by Sichler.

Sichler was the vice chairwoman of the Luzerne County Republican Party at the time of her arrest .  She resigned her post due to the allegations regarding Priority Search.

Sichler's illegal activities caused losses of $1.98 million, according to prosecutors.  Sichler will be sentenced at a future date to be determined.