06/29/2009

Associated Press

A former Kansas City television reporter has been sentenced to six months of home detention for her role in a scheme to launder more than $650,000 from Associated Wholesale Grocers.

Arlene Francis pleaded guilty in 2006 to four counts of money laundering. Federal officials say the 48-year-old Parkville resident submitted fraudulent invoices for products and services that Wholesale Grocers did not receive.

The invoices were from Innovative Cleaning, a company that did not operate a "warehouse or other legitimate businesses at its addresses" and was not registered or licensed in Missouri.

Francis was a traffic reporter for television station KCTV before resigning in 2006, about a month before she pleaded guilty to the crime.