DENVER—Candice L. White, age 43, of Centennial, Colorado, pled guilty yesterday before U.S. District Court Judge Raymond P. Moore to two counts of embezzlement by a bank officer or employee, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Special Inspector General of Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) announced. White, who is free on bond, is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Moore on November 3, 2015 at 4:00 p.m. White was first indicted by a federal grand jury in Denver on March 24, 2015.

According to the stipulated facts contained in the plea agreement, from at least July 2009 through March 2011, White, a Senior Vice President of Front Range Bank, knowingly and intentionally embezzled $92,930.27 from client accounts at the Bank. The plea agreement calls for White to pay restitution in this amount back to the Bank, which has already reimbursed its clients for their losses. The defendant accomplished her embezzlement by requesting cashier’s checks and withdrawing cash from escrow accounts and other accounts that were not closely monitored by the victim account holders. She would then use the embezzled money for her own personal use.

White was familiar with the victim accounts because she was the bank representative assigned to the accounts. To carry out her embezzlement, the defendant approached a teller at the bank with a type of withdrawal slip and falsely informed the teller that she needed the cashier’s check or cash for the client or to pay a bill on the client’s behalf. Due to her status as a Senior Vice President at the Bank, the tellers trusted that White was telling the truth and had the required supporting documentation for the transactions.

“Americans do not tolerate bank officials stealing money from bank customers. It’s that simple,” said U.S. Attorney John Walsh.

“Candice White’s guilty plea should send a strong message to anyone considering embezzling funds from banking institutions,” said FBI Denver Special Agent in Charge Thomas Ravenelle. “The FBI will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect financial institutions from those engaged in these types of schemes.”

“As a senior executive at a TARP bank, the American taxpayers placed their trust in White,” said Christy Goldsmith Romero, Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP). “White not only abused that trust, she also took advantage of her position within the bank to deceive her co-workers for her own personal gain. SIGTARP and our law enforcement partners will aggressively investigate allegations of crime undertaken at the expense of taxpayers’ TARP investments and bring perpetrators to justice.”

Because Front Range Bank received TARP funds, the Special Inspector General (SIGTARP) assisted the FBI in the investigation.

The defendant faces not more than 30 years in federal prison, and up to a $250,000 fine, per count of conviction.

White is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Pegeen Rhyne.