ATOKA, Tenn. —A former InSouth Bank branch administrator in Atoka has pleaded guilty to embezzling $888,470 over 10 years.
Lauren Melissa McDivitt, 46, of Covington faces up to 30 years’ imprisonment, a $1 million fine and five years supervised release.
According to a release by Acting Western District U.S. Attorney Lawrence Laurenzi, McDivitt created fake withdrawal tickets to make it appear that bank customers with IRA and CD accounts were withdrawing funds. To conceal theft, McDivitt signed customers up to receive monthly statements online via email, and linked the customer accounts to a fake e-mail account where the statements, which reflected the unauthorized withdrawals, would be e-mailed.
She then prepared fraudulent monthly statements, which reflected interest accrued, but omitted her unauthorized withdrawals, and mailed them to the customers. In some instances, McDivitt also made internal transfers between accounts of various customers to cover amounts she had taken from other customers.
The crimes occurred between 2006 and 2016, according to information entered in court.
