Ex-Bank Teller Sentenced To Supervised Release

TULSA, Okla. (AP) A former bank teller who pleaded guilty last year to embezzlement was sentenced Friday to five years of supervised release.<br/><br/>Karen Van Zandt also was ordered to pay $33,569 in

Saturday, March 10th 2007, 2:00 pm

By: News On 6

TULSA, Okla. (AP) A former bank teller who pleaded guilty last year to embezzlement was sentenced Friday to five years of supervised release.

Karen Van Zandt also was ordered to pay $33,569 in restitution, the balance remaining after she surrendered her 401K accounts and accrued vacation time, to Community Bank and Trust Co., according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Northern District of Oklahoma

Federal prosecutors said Van Zandt, 43, embezzled bank funds between January 2002 through Dec. 16, 2004, while working as a teller supervisor and vault teller at the bank's main location in Tulsa.

In her position, Van Zandt knew when the audits of the cash drawers were scheduled and she would place a "cash out ticket" in her drawer equaling the amount of funds she had taken to mask the fund shortage, prosecutors said.

Shortly after the Sapulpa resident was removed as teller supervisor, her theft was discovered and bank officials contacted federal authorities, prosecutors said.

Van Zandt pleaded guilty in November to misapplication or embezzlement of more than $48,000 from the bank.