Bank employee steals nearly $50,000 from elderly customer
OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — A Regent Bank employee is facing three charges of embezzlement after investigators say she stole $47,470 from a customer's bank account over the course of two years.
The victim, who was elderly and had no family members and a large amount of money, had been banking with Regent since 2018.
In 2019, the victim moved money from her IRA into her Regent account and began exclusively working with Shanda Hensel court documents say.
Investigators say in July of 2019 Hensel placed the victim's account on 'Do Not Mail, Do Not Call' and made a note that if the victim called she must be transferred to her.
Hensel then began pulling money from the victim's account, investigators say, and continued doing so until May of 2021.
During that time, court documents state the victim asked several times why she stopped receiving her bank statements and was told that the bank was behind in mailing them due to COVID-19.
The victim would call Hensel every few weeks to receive her balance and was always told an amount that was close to what should have been in the account.
Investigators say the victim called to move her money to Tinker Federal Credit Union but Hensel was out on vacation. She spoke with another employee who said she only had $84,000 in her account.
According to investigators, the woman should have had approximately $130,000 in her account.
The manager for the bank then checked the woman's account and saw that Hensel had made a cash withdraw in the victim's name but the woman had not come into the branch in several years.
Investigators say the manager was then able to determine that Hensel had made several cash withdraws in the victim's name totaling $47,470.
Hensel is now facing three counts of embezzlement.
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