Bank Insider Steals $257,594 From Customers, Claims She ‘Borrowed Money’ She Knew Wouldn’t Be Needed at the Time: Report

A former bank employee will spend the next six years behind bars after draining hundreds of thousands of dollars from customer accounts.

Ex-First National Bank of Commerce employee and Pocahontas, Arkansas resident Heather Pankey pleaded guilty to theft of property, financial identity fraud, first-degree forgery and computer fraud after stealing a total of $257,594.77 from customer accounts, reports the ABC affiliate KAIT8 News.

Investigators say Pankey used her position as a bank insider to access customer accounts and transfer funds to a joint account that she shared with her grandmother. To obfuscate the transactions, Pankey would shift funds from one customer account to another. According to the investigators, Pankey withdrew funds from at least eight customer accounts without authorization.

Authorities say Pankey’s scheme was initially uncovered on March 20th after she used a colleague’s login credentials without consent to move funds from a customer account. The transaction did not go through,