Morrisonville Woman Pleads Guilty to Embezzling from Bank
| U.S. Attorney’s Office June 12, 2012 |
SPRINGFIELD, IL—A former assistant branch manager of a Christian County bank, Mary M. Sheedy, 49, has entered a plea of guilty to embezzling more than $60,000 from the bank during a four-year period. During her appearance in federal court yesterday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Byron Cudmore, Sheedy, of Morrisonville, Illinois, waived indictment and entered a plea of guilty to an information that charged her with one count of bank embezzlement.
During her court appearance, Sheedy admitted that from at least January 2, 2007, through February 28, 2011, when she was employed as the assistant branch manager of the Morrisonville State Bank, a division of Wemple State Bank, she engaged in unauthorized transactions of approximately $235,000 related to at least 14 customer accounts. Sheedy admitted she paid back just over $172,000 to the accounts, resulting in a loss to the bank of approximately $60,650.
During her court hearing on June 11, Sheedy admitted that some of the methods she used to illegally obtain money were to forge checks, alter amounts on legitimate withdraw slips and keep the difference, and run checks through a “proof” machine a second time after tearing off the check number. She admitted that she concealed the embezzlement by altering customer bank statements and deliberately removing other statements from the mail.
The investigation was conducted by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation with the full cooperation of the Wemple State Bank. Further, Wemple State Bank has completed its full investigation to ensure that all affected customer accounts have been corrected and the money replaced. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick D. Hansen.
Sheedy is currently on bond awaiting sentencing, which is scheduled on October 22, 2012, before U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough.
At sentencing, Sheedy faces a maximum possible penalty of up to 30 years’ imprisonment, a fine of up to $1,000,000, and a term of supervised release to follow any term of imprisonment. The defendant may also be ordered to make full restitution to the bank.