Bank Worker Pulls Off $1 Million ATM Scheme; Gets Prison Sentence

A 27-year-old suspect who concealed an embezzlement scheme in Kalamazoo for five years totaling $950,000 was sentenced to serve 41 months in prison for thievery. The woman who headed the bank’s probe said the suspect manipulated the system by essentially keeping two sets of books and perpetuating the fraud “every single day.” The U.S. District Judge observed that knowing her job inside and out gave the suspect the opportunity to hide the theft and that she systematically thwarted internal policies designed to prevent similar crimes. The suspect frequently offered to cover others duties. Upon admitting the embezzlement, the suspect told authorities that she keyed in higher amounts of cash than she actually put in or took out of an ATM machine at the branch where she worked. At times, she took $10,000 in a single day. She would make the corresponding transaction to keep the balances in tune, but it would allow her to siphon the cash difference. She stole the mail of the bank manager — who was one of three employees fired in the wake of the crime — as another method to hide the offense.

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