FORMER BANK SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT GUILTY OF EMBEZZLEMENT

(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) - A former senior vice-president of two area banks has pleaded guilty to two counts of embezzlement by a bank officer, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today.

At a hearing before Chief United States District Judge Hayden Head, Leslie Woodside Dial, 46, of Sinton, Texas, admitted that while she was employed as a senior vice-president of Commercial State Bank and State Bank and Trust, she stole more than $285,000 from the banks.

During an audit in June 2005, each bank began to suspect theft and embezzlement by Leslie Dial. External auditors were brought in and identified a total of 536 unauthorized deposits made into nine separate accounts held by Dial and members of her immediate family. These deposits were posted on 228 separate dates between November 1997 and February 2005. In January 2000, after being promoted to senior vice-president, a total of $287,045 was embezzled from the two banks with $180,873 attributable to State Bank and Trust and $106,172 attributable to Commercial State Bank.

Dial embezzled the funds by making unauthorized deposits and offsetting these deposits with charges to various internal accounts used by the banks during routine transfers of funds. These unauthorized clearing account transactions were processed in the same manner as legitimate transfers between the banks for shared expenses such as payroll for shared employees and other shared costs. Following the discovery of the theft, both Commercial State Bank and State Bank and Trust verified that no depositor's accounts were affected.

Dial faces up to 30 years imprisonment and a $1 million fine for each of her two counts of conviction. She will also be required to pay restitution to each of the banks. Sentencing is set for Nov. 20, 2008, at 2:30 p.m.

The case was investigated by agents from the Internal Revenue Service, the FBI and the Federal Deposit Insurance Cooperation. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert D. Thorpe Jr.

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