MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA - The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Stacey Becker Lawson, age 41, of Henryetta, Oklahoma, was sentenced to 30 months imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $177,375.40 for Theft, Embezzlement Or Misapplication By Bank Employee, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 656. The charges arose from an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
The Indictment alleged that from in or about 2015, the exact date unknown to the Grand Jury, until on or about June 13, 2018, in the Eastern District of Oklahoma, the defendant being an employee of American Exchange Bank of Henryetta, Oklahoma, a bank whose deposits are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, with intent to injure and defraud the bank, willfully misapplied, embezzled, abstracted, and purloined more than $1,000.00 of the moneys entrusted to the custody and care of American Exchange Bank by withdrawing cash and transferring funds from the bank and misapplying and embezzling the funds.
United States Attorney Brian J. Kuester said, “An embezzlement from a bank that serves a small community, such as the American Exchange Bank, has an impact well beyond the bank itself. The defendant’s crime struck a blow to perhaps the most important thing a community bank brings to a town, its residents, businesses, and public institutions - trust. So while this is a crime involving financial loss by a banking institution, it is really more than that to American Exchange Bank and the community that it serves."
The Honorable Ronald A. White, U.S. District Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, in Muskogee, presided over the hearing. Assistant United States Attorney Clay Compton represented the United States.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
