Bank Fraud-Memphis, Tennessee

Karen Faye Wolfe, 60, a former Bank of America vault manager, who has been accused of embezzling $855,000 from a Tennessee vault, was arrested in Kissimmee, Florida by U.S. Secret Service agents and Osceola County deputy sheriffs on an arrest warrant.^[1] Wolfe was taken into custody without incident and immediately asked for an attorney. ^[2]Wolfe also agreed to waive an extradition hearing and return to Memphis.^[3]

Wolfe was put on the federal agency's "most-wanted" fugitives list last year after being accused of filling three large duffel bags with $20, $10 and $5 dollar bills from a cash-vault building. ^[4]On her last day at the bank, April 24, Wolfe was fired for "poor work performance," court documents say. ^[5] Co-workers noticed two entries in the vault system for $855,000 that made it look like the vault's account was balanced, the complaint said. ^[6] The "general ledger debit" and "cash out credit" tickets were fraudulent, bank officials said.^[7]"She circumvented the security system to access the cash vault and made the false [bookkeeping] entries to cover up her tracks," Assistant U.S. Attorney Vincent Citro told the judge at Wolfe’s hearing. ^[8]

The crime of bank fraud is covered by 18 U.S.C. § 1344 (2005). Under this statute, it is a crime for a person to "knowingly" execute, or attempt to execute, a scheme or artifice to defraud a financial institution; 18 U.S.C. § 1344(1) (2005), or to obtain any of the moneys, funds, credits, assets, securities, or other property owned by, or under the custody or control of, a financial institution, by means of false or fraudulent pretenses, representations, or promises; id. § 1344 (2005).

If convicted, Wolfe faces up to 30 years in prison and a possible fine of up to $1 million.^[9]Wolfe had been the vault's operations manager since 1995 and joined Bank of America in 1977, bank officials told federal agents. ^[10]Cash vaults are not regular banks and collect commercial deposits from branches and customers through armored-courier services; they also conduct large cash transactions with federal reserve banks.^[11]

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[1] Pedro Ruz Gutierrez, Fired Bank-Vault Worker Doctored Books, Cops Say, Orlando Sentinel, January 26, 2007.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] Id.
[10] Id.
[11] Id.