Former Highland bank official pleads guilty to stealing $174,000

News-Democrat

E-Mail

Print Reprint or license

Text Size:

tool goes here

A former Illinois bank supervisor pleaded guilty Friday to a bank fraud charge accusing her of stealing about $174,000 from her employer and a Highland charitable foundation.

Michelle Knebel, 38, of Pocahontas, admitted to using the First Mid-Illinois Bank's computerized banking software to transfer funds to her personal account from 2002 through June 2008, while she was employed as vice president and regional deposit supervisor of the bank.

Knebel also admitted to taking funds from a bank account held by the Highland School Charitable Foundation, where she served as bookkeeper, and from individual account holders.

"The bank has replenished the money to the account holders' accounts and therefore no bank customers have sustained a monetary loss," according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

Knebel faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, a fine of up to $1 million, at least five years supervised release and mandatory restitution.

Knebel is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 4.

Comments

Commenting allows our readers to share information, insights and observations about the news stories on our site. We encourage lively, thoughtful discussion, but ask you to refrain from abusive, racist or profane comments. Do not attack other posters for their viewpoints, race, gender or sexual orientation. We do not monitor each and every posting, but reserve the right to delete comments that violate these rules. Notify us of violations by hitting the "Report Abuse" button. Repeat or flagrant offenders will lose their commenting privileges, at our discretion.