Yellowhammer Times

A Cullman woman has been sentenced to five years in federal prison for embezzling funds from First Community Bank, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona.

Kellie L. Johnson, 54, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Liles C. Burke to 60 months in prison followed by 60 months of supervised release. Johnson pleaded guilty to bank embezzlement in May.

Johnson had worked at First Community Bank for about 25 years. Court documents show that between July 2013 and June 2023, she took money from the bank’s Federal Reserve account to pay her own expenses, mainly credit card bills. To hide the theft, Johnson falsified transactions to match the balance in the general ledger with the actual account and deleted records of her ACH transactions. She also changed account statements from the Federal Reserve before giving them to the bank president and auditors.

The scheme came to light when the bank president received a notification from the Federal Reserve that the bank’s ACH account was overdrawn. When asked for an updated statement, Johnson provided a fake document showing a positive balance instead of a deficit.

Over ten years, Johnson made around 273 fraudulent ACH transactions totaling more than $2.3 million. The bank also lost $138,185.40 in interest income as a result of her actions.

The case was investigated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura D. Hodge.

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