Former Bank Employee Sentenced to 27 Months in Prison for Embezzlement

CINCINNATI—Kimberly Ferguson, 53, of Milford, Ohio, was sentenced in U.S .District Court to 27 months in prison for embezzling $911,000 from the bank where she worked as a vault teller. She was also ordered to pay restitution.

Carter M. Stewart, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, and Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), announced the sentence imposed today by Senior U.S. District Judge Herman J. Weber.

Ferguson was an employee of U.S. Bank for approximately 33 years, primarily at the Hyde Park branch. She used her position as the vault teller at the branch to embezzle thousands of dollars from the bank for her personal benefit and created fraudulent “cash in transit” slips to disguise the scheme.

In total, from 1997 through February 2012, Ferguson embezzled $911,000 in funds from the federally insured bank. On average, this translates to stealing more than $60,000 in cash per year for 15 years. “And bear in mind, this did not involve electronic transfers or checks,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Tim Mangan wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court before sentencing. “The stolen funds consisted of cash that the defendant physically carried out of the bank.”

The scheme was ultimately detected when bank officials noticed that the defendant’s branch had as many as 38 more transits slips per month than an average branch. Ferguson pleaded guilty on October 17, 2012, to one count of bank fraud.

U.S. Attorney Stewart commended the investigation by the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Mangan, who represented the United States in the case.