Former Bartlesville Bank Employee Sentenced For Stealing From Customers

A judge sentenced a former Bartlesville bank employee Monday to 13 months in federal prison for stealing more than $147,000 from elderly customers' accounts.

Patricia Swearingin, 67, pleaded guilty in December 2013 to embezzling funds from 23 elderly customers' accounts between November 2007 and November 2010.

Swearingin was initially charged in Washington County in January 2011 after a man contacted the bank about money missing from his mother's account. Prosecutors charged Swearingin in October 2013.

11/1/2013 Related Story: Former Bartlesville Bank Employee Faces Federal Embezzlement Charges

Prosecutors said Swearingin would forge a customer's name on a check and present the check to the bank's drive-thru teller, "falsely stating that the account customer was waiting in her office for the cash."

Prosecutors say Swearingin used most of the stolen money for casino gambling.

In addition to the prison sentence, the federal judge ordered Swearingin to make restitution to the bank and forfeit more than $45,000 from her retirement account.

Osage Federal Bank is now American Heritage Bank.