Bank Employee Arrested and Charged with Bank Embezzlement

BOSTON – Jessica Vargas, 34, of Athol, was arrested today and charged in federal court in Worcester with one count of bank embezzlement. 

According to the charging documents, Vargas was an employee of a federally-insured bank when she embezzled more than $100,000 by making unauthorized cash withdrawals from customer accounts. Bank documentation shows that Vargas made unauthorized withdrawals from the accounts of various customers, including more than $53,000 from the account of an 84-year-old bank customer and almost $13,000 from the account of an 88-year-old customer.

Vargas faces a sentence of no greater than 30 years in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of $1 million. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Abely of Lelling’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.

The details contained in the charging documents are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.