LITTLE ROCK -- A former teller at the Cantrell Road branch of Allied Bank in Little Rock admitted Tuesday to embezzling $197,100 from the bank between May 2013 and October of that year.
Karla D. Morris, 31, of Little Rock pleaded guilty to an embezzlement charge before U.S. District Judge D. Price Marshall Jr., who will sentence her at a later date, after a pre-sentencing report is prepared.
According to what Assistant U.S. Attorney Jana Harris told the judge, Morris had been taking cash from the teller drawer and the vault, and then falsifying audit reports to make it appear the cash was still there. But when the bank required Morris to take a vacation in October 2013, over her protests, a cash count in the vault showed a shortage.
When confronted about the missing money, Morris confessed that she had initially taken small amounts for herself to buy personal items, and said she was later approached by a friend who needed larger amounts of money for a business venture. Harris said Morris was hesitant at first, but then agreed to take money for her friend as well, after he said he would pay it back, though he never did.
Morris, who was represented by attorney Nicole Lybrand of the federal public defender's office, faces a potential prison sentence of up to 30 years and a fine of up to $1 million.
NW News on 06/27/2015