Former Bank Employee Sentenced for Embezzlement

POCATELLO – Stefani Bennett, 45, of Salmon, Idaho, was sentenced today to 15 months imprisonment for embezzlement by a bank employee, Acting U.S. Attorney Rafael M. Gonzalez, Jr., announced. Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill also ordered Bennett to serve five years of supervised release following her prison sentence and to pay restitution of $116,945. She pleaded guilty on September 28, 2016.

Bennett was an employee of the U.S. Bank in Salmon, Idaho. On July 8, 2011, Bennett withdrew $100,000 from a customer’s account and converted it to five cashier’s checks and $2,407.59 in cash, which she used to pay her personal bills and make personal purchases, all without authorization. Bennett admitted to other bank employees and to special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who interviewed her at a later date, that she took the money.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.