Montgomery Resident Sentenced to 37 Months for Financial Fraud Crimes

MOBILE, AL – A Montgomery woman was sentenced to 37 months in prison for embezzlement, bank fraud, and wire fraud convictions.

According to court documents and evidence presented at a federal jury trial in June 2021, Tiffany Culliver Franklin, 41, committed a series of financial fraud crimes over a period of several years. In particular, between June 2015 and July 2017, Franklin embezzled $202,000 from Branch Banking and Trust Company (BB&T), where she was employed as a vault teller. Franklin gave a written statement to a BB&T investigator admitting that she stole the money from a local branch in Montgomery and gambled with it at casinos.

Before embezzling money from BB&T, Franklin also worked as a banker at a Wells Fargo branch in Montgomery from January 2012 to December 2014. In that capacity, Franklin used her Wells Fargo credentials to create and obtain a debit card linked to an elderly customer’s account. Franklin then used the debit card to deposit worthless checks into and immediately withdraw cash from the elderly customer’s account, causing a financial loss to Wells Fargo.
Finally, between September 2017 and June 2018, Franklin worked as a bookkeeper for Goodwyn Middle School (GMS) in Montgomery. During that period, Franklin stole more than $13,000 in money and property belonging to GMS, including funds taken in from classroom teachers and proceeds from school athletic events. Franklin also used a GMS-issued store credit card to buy various unauthorized personal items. Franklin admitted to state investigators that she used the money she stole from GMS to gamble at casinos.

Chief United States District Judge L. Scott Coogler ordered Franklin to serve a five-year term of supervised release upon her release from prison, during which time she will be subject to credit restrictions and prohibited from working in the financial-services industry. The court also ordered Franklin to pay $216,416 in victim restitution and $600 in special assessments.

U.S. Attorney Sean P. Costello of the Southern District of Alabama made the announcement.

The United States Secret Service and the Alabama Attorney General’s Office investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sinan Kalayoglu and Justin Roller prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.