Former Vice President of First Bank & Trust Pleads Guilty to Embezzlement

Abingdon, VIRGINIA – The former Vice President of Electronic Banking for First Bank & Trust pled guilty today in U.S. District Court in Abingdon to federal embezzlement charges, United States Attorney Thomas T. Cullen announced.

Lisa Tiller, 39, of Lebanon, Va., waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty today to one count of embezzlement by a bank employee.

According to information submitted to the court during today’s guilty plea hearing by Assistant United States Attorney Zachary T. Lee, Tiller was the Vice President of Electronic Bank for First Bank & Trust for approximately 17 years. On or about August 5, 2019, Tiller contacted an E-commerce representative with First Bank & Trust and had the bank account of the Russell County Health Coalition added to her personal online banking profile. Between Aug 5, 2019 and August 16, 2019, Tiller made six transactions, transferring funds totaling $4,750 from the Russell County Health Coalition account to her personal account.

On August 20, 2019, First Bank & Trust began an audit of the transactions and contacted Tiller about the discrepancies.  On that date, Tiller's husband deposited funds into Tiller's personal account sufficient to cover the loss and Tiller transferred $4,750 from her personal account to the Russell County Health Coalition account. She also admitted to bank leadership that she had wrongly transferred the funds from the Russell County Health Coalition Account. 

On January 14, 2020, when interviewed by an investigator with the Russell County Sheriff’s Office, working as part of a federal financial fraud investigative team, Tiller admitted to the embezzlement of funds from First Bank & Trust.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Russell County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys Zachary T. Lee and Whit Pierce are prosecuting the case for the United States.