Police: No proof Sueppel bought cocaine

A sociologist says the ex-bank executive might have embezzled money to provide for his family.

By ERIN JORDAN

REGISTER IOWA CITY BUREAU

Iowa City, Ia. - Investigators have few answers to the question of what led a high-ranking bank executive, one from a prominent Iowa City family, to allegedly steal about $560,000 from his employer.

But law officers said there is no evidence that Steven Sueppel, 42, used the money for illegal drugs or gambling.

Sueppel initially told officials at Hills Bank & Trust, where he was vice president, that he spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in bank money to buy cocaine.

He later recanted that story and told investigators he made up the story because he could think of no other way to explain the missing money.

"There is absolutely zero indication of drug use or trade," Iowa City Police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said Wednesday.

Sueppel is believed to have killed his wife and four children Sunday night or early Monday. He died Monday in a fiery crash when he drove his automobile into a concrete abutment.

A University of Iowa sociologist and police investigators said Sueppel may have felt pressure to maintain his family's standard of living after his wife stopped working and the couple adopted four children.

Kelsay said the money Sueppel allegedly embezzled - $560,000 taken over seven years - likely went to maintaining the Sueppels' comfortable, but not extravagant, lifestyle.

Kelsay pointed to expenses, such as a large home and family, as likely reasons for the alleged thefts.

"Beyond the everyday things, there isn't any indication of any other uses of that," Kelsay said, referring to the money.

The Sueppels lived in a 2,500-square-foot house, valued at $343,000, in Iowa City's Windsor Ridge neighborhood.

Hills Bank fired Sueppel after the alleged embezzlements were discovered last fall. He had been working recently for a concrete supplier.

His wife, Sheryl Sueppel, was an elementary schoolteacher for the Iowa City school district before she quit to stay at home with the couple's children.

She was paid $40,400 in 2000, her last year as a teacher. She had not worked outside the home since then.

Those factors, when combined with growing societal pressure to live beyond one's means, could influence a person to embezzle money, said University of Iowa sociology professor Kevin Leicht, who co-authored a 2007 book called "Postindustrial Peasants: The Illusion of Middle-Class Prosperity."

"It certainly sounds plausible to me, at least from afar, when you look at their house and lifestyle on one income," Leicht said Wednesday.

Two factors contribute to Americans living beyond their means, he said.

The media's focus on the ultra-wealthy gives people a skewed view of a reasonable standard of living, Leicht said. America's credit businesses also allow people to overextend themselves, he said.

"It goes on under the radar all the time," Leicht said. "You can't tell by the cars in the driveway whether they can afford it or not."

Living on credit tends to break down when there is a crisis, such as a lost job or illness in the family, Leicht added.

"It certainly tempts people to do all sorts of things to bring in more money. Gambling and embezzlement are probably the biggest, followed by risky investments," he said.

Steven Sueppel was scheduled to go to trial on embezzlement and money laundering charges April 21.

If found guilty, he would have faced up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years of probation for the embezzlement charge.

For each of the six counts of money laundering, he would have faced up to 20 years in prison, a fine of at least $500,000 and three years of probation.

Sueppel left a lengthy suicide note in which he apologized to his extended family for the murders and despaired over the criminal charges and the embarrassment he had brought to the family.

Reporter Erin Jordan can be reached at (319) 351-6527 or ejordan@dmreg.com