Former PNC Bellefonte Branch Manager Agrees to Plead Guilty to Bank Theft Charge

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania today announced the filing of a one-count criminal information charging Kimberly D. Laird with stealing $78,594 from PNC Bank while working as manager of the Bellefonte, Pennsylvania branch of the bank.

According to United States Attorney Peter J. Smith, the information alleges that Laird stole the funds between January 2005 and November 2011 through a number of means: she opened credit accounts in her father’s name without authorization and disbursed funds to herself; she made redemptions from certificates of deposit accounts of five customers and withdrew the funds for her personal use; and she opened checking accounts in other names and wrote checks to pay her personal bills and expenses. According to the information, Laird stole funds from certificate of deposit accounts of four customers whose ages ranged from 81 to 89 years. Under the terms of the plea agreement filed with the Information, Laird agreed to plead guilty to stealing the funds and to pay restitution for the losses.

If convicted, Laird, a 40-year-old resident of Milesburg, Pennsylvania, would face a maximum term of 10 years in prison; a fine of up to $250,000; a three-year term of supervised release; and a special assessment of $100.

U.S. Attorney Smith stated that the case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in State College, Pennsylvania. Prosecution of this matter has been assigned to Assistant United States Attorney George J. Rocktashel.

An indictment or information is not evidence of guilt but simply a description of the charge made by the grand jury and/or United States Attorney against a defendant. A charged defendant is presumed innocent until a jury returns a unanimous finding that the United States has proven the defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt or until the defendant has pled guilty to the charges.