Former Bank Officer Sentenced to Prison for Bank Fraud
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 22, 2010 |
A. Courtney Cox, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, announced today that on January 22, 2010, MICHELLE KNEBEL, age 38, of Pocahontas, Illinois, was sentenced to thirty-three (33) months in prison as a result of her conviction for bank fraud. Following her release from prison, she will have to serve five (5) years of supervised release and pay mandatory restitution remaining in the amount of $149,622.42.
MICHELLE KNEBEL was employed as a Vice-President and Regional Deposit Supervisor of First Mid-Illinois Bank and Trust. Evidence established that she embezzled funds over a 10-year period from 1998 through June of 2008 fraudulently using the bank’s computerized banking software to unlawfully transfer funds to her personal account causing a loss of approximately $174,000. The bank has replenished the money to the account holders’ accounts and therefore no bank customers sustained a monetary loss.
The successful prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution of the case was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Norman R. Smith.