Former Bank Employee Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

POCATELLO –  Stefani Bennett, 44, of Salmon, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to embezzlement by a bank employee, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. 

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 (FBI), who interviewed her at a later date, that she took the money.

The charge of embezzlement by a bank employee is punishable by up to 30 years of imprisonment, up to a $1,000,000 fine, and up to five years of supervised release. 

Bennett is scheduled to be sentenced on December 14, 2016, before Chief U.S. District Judge B. Lynn Winmill at the federal courthouse in Pocatello.

The case was investigated by the FBI.