A woman from Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, has been sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release for embezzling funds from her employer, First Citizens Bank. The sentencing was announced by Dan Bishop, United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Sarah Wilson, also known as Sarah Cannoy and aged 28, entered a guilty plea on August 4, 2025, to three counts of embezzlement by a bank employee. Judge William L. Osteen, Jr. ordered her to pay restitution amounting to $150,450.
Court documents show that Wilson worked as a teller at the Pilot Mountain branch of First Citizens Bank between December 2023 and May 2024. During this period, she stole $150,450 in cash from her teller drawer. To conceal the thefts, Wilson made fraudulent entries into the bank’s computer system. These included buy/sell transactions related to the bank's vault and unauthorized withdrawals from accounts belonging to two elderly customers—one aged 89 and another aged 90—both of whom were known to Wilson.
When one customer questioned suspicious activity on his account, Wilson assured him there was no issue. By then, she had depleted his savings and certificate of deposit accounts by $59,700. She also drained $42,650 from the other customer’s certificate of deposit account.
An audit conducted in late May 2024 identified an imbalance in Wilson’s teller drawer. This led to an internal investigation by the bank which uncovered the full scope of her actions. Following these findings, Wilson was terminated from her position and the affected customers were reimbursed by the bank.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General handled the investigation into this case. Assistant United States Attorney Laura Jeanne Dildine prosecuted it.
