Former banker Donnie Wright facing federal embezzlement charge in Texas.

A prominent former local banker is facing federal embezzlement charges after being accused of stealing from his employer — apparently through his church’s accounts — for more than three years.

The federal grand jury Wednesday indicted Donnie Wright, a top local executive with Bank of America, on one count of embezzlement of funds by a bank employee.

The indictment says only a sum of more than $1,000 was taken, and the theft took place between May 2006 and January 2010.

A lawsuit Community Baptist Church filed in September 2010 against Wright and Bank of America claiming civil theft, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty puts the loss at more than $375,000.

Kathy Colvin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas, confirmed Wright’s identity, and said she could not comment further.

Wright could not be reached for comment.

It is unknown whether Wright has retained an attorney. Chuck Lanehart, who initially represented Wright in the church lawsuit, received the judge’s permission to withdraw from the case, saying in a pleading Wright had become uncooperative.

Wright is also in the middle of a divorce and is not represented by an attorney in that case, court records show.

He has not filed any documents in the matter and is the subject of a court order instructing him to respond to questions from his wife’s attorney.

Avalanche-Journal files indicate Wright had several titles reflecting increasing authority with the bank between 2006 and 2010, ranging from branch manager to local market president.

The time frame mentioned in the suit roughly coincides with the dates listed in the indictment.

That lawsuit contends Wright, a member of the church’s board of trustees, admitted to stealing from the church “over a lengthy period of time and concealing his activities.”

The suit says Wright admitted the embezzlement to church officials after the pastor’s paycheck was dishonored because the church’s primary operating account had insufficient funds.

According to the suit, Wright was the church’s banker, but was not authorized to sign the church’s checks.

He was, however, a signatory on certificates of deposit Bank of America issued to the church.

The suit says Wright had day-to-day control of the church’s business affairs from March 2006 to February 2010, which included reviewing bank statements and preparing financial reports for the church.

After Wright admitted to the embezzlement, the suit says, an investigation determined that, through his position as a bank officer, “systematically looted” the church’s accounts.

According to the suit, he made partial withdrawals from church certificates of deposit totaling more than $208,000, took almost $135,000 out of the church’s checking accounts through debit tickets, and negotiated checks for nearly $33,500, made out to himself and signed by people who were not authorized to sign church checks.

In 2011, the church dropped its claims against the bank and agreed to not refile, and later filed a motion to drop the suit against Wright, but with an option to refile at a later time.

According to court documents, Wright has not yet been arrested.

Wright, who grew up in East Lubbock, has been a prominent figure in African-American affairs in the community.

He has been a longtime officer and board member of the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee, and involved in local economic improvement efforts by connecting Bank of America with the East and North Lubbock Community Development Corp.

In 2009, the Lubbock chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, the African-American women’s sorority, honored him as man of the year for his work as a mentor to students at Parkway Elementary School and his involvement with the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Committee.