Woman admits to money theft
Guilty of stealing $329,240, ex-Searcy bank manager says
A former manager of a Searcy branch of First Community Bank admitted Thursday to a federal judge that she embezzled $329,240.68 while working there from September 2014 through July 2018.
U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker accepted a guilty plea from Amanda McClish, 42, of Searcy, to a single charge of embezzlement of bank funds, for which she will be sentenced in a few months.
Accompanied in Baker’s Little Rock courtroom by defense attorney Hubert Alexander of Jacksonville, McClish waived her right to have the charge reviewed by a federal grand jury and pleaded guilty to an information.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Angela Jegley said that if McClish had gone to trial, prosecutors expected to prove that McClish used a variety of methods to embezzle funds from customers. For example, Jegley said, McClish closed one man’s account and opened another, depositing $5,000 less in the new account. Jegley said McClish also stole from customers’ certificates of deposit by making cash withdrawals or issuing cashier’s checks made out to the customer and then forging them to cash them.
The thefts were discovered while McClish was on vacation in 2018, when a customer called the bank to ask questions about account activity. Jegley said irregularities found by a bank employee responding to the customer’s inquiry prompted a call to McClish while she was still on vacation. She said McClish admitted stealing money from the account and immediately repaid it. A subsequent investigation then revealed thefts from other accounts, resulting in McClish’s employment ending on Aug. 18, 2018, Jegley said.
McClish listened to the facts that Jegley recited and agreed they were true. Baker released McClish on conditions until her sentencing, which will be scheduled after a pre-sentence report is prepared by federal probation officers. Baker said the conditions would include mental health counseling and substance abuse treatment if assessments determine either is needed. The conditions also require McClish to surrender her passport.
Alexander noted that McClish is currently working, but didn’t say where. Baker said that if McClish’s current job involves handling money, her employer must be informed about her crime, prompting Alexander to say that the employer is aware of the prosecution. Jegley agreed that by remaining free and continuing to work, McClish will be better able to pay restitution, which is mandatory. Restitution in the same amount of the theft will be payable to the bank, whose general counsel attended the plea hearing.