Ex-teller at Athol bank gets month in prison for stealing over $100K

WORCESTER — An Athol bank teller who stole more than $100,000 from elderly customers, including a man dying of cancer, was sentenced Monday in federal court to a month in prison.

Jessica Vargas, 35, of Athol received the sentence in U.S. District Court as several people from whom she stole, including a 90-year-old woman, looked on. She was also ordered to pay $108,171 in restitution.

“I don’t believe the sentence fits the crime,” Cheryl D’Ambra, an executive at Athol Savings Bank, said afterward. She fears the punishment will not be enough to deter others from similar crimes.

Ms. Vargas was arrested in March 2018 after an investigation by Athol Savings Bank determined she stole more than $108,000 from eight elderly customers over a period of 17 months.

In a victim impact statement Monday, Ms. D’Ambra, executive vice president for retail banking, said Ms. Vargas’ crime had a “dramatic impact” on the bank and its customers.

One by one, she ticked off the names and ages of elderly people from whose accounts Ms. Vargas, a branch manager, pilfered money.

“In one case, she preyed upon the account of an individual who she knew had only a short time to live, as he was dying from cancer,” Ms. D’Ambra said.

According to the bank executive, Ms. Vargas made four withdrawals from the 68-year-old man’s account totaling $8,000. The man is now dead.

“Stealing from a bank is not a victimless crime,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen M. Noto said in requesting that Judge Timothy S. Hillman impose a 12-month sentence.

Ms. Noto said 12 months would be on the “low end” of the recommended sentencing guidelines and said the sentence is needed as a deterrent to others. She noted that at least one family had to deal with not only the death of a loved one, but also the complications caused by Ms. Vargas’ theft from that person.

Ms. Vargas’ court-appointed attorney, Charles P. McGinty of the federal public defender’s office, acknowledged that his client’s acts were wrong, but stressed that her motive was not greed.

Mr. McGinty said that at the time of the thefts, Ms. Vargas, by virtue of her husband’s disability, was the sole provider for her family as well as other family members she took in during tough times.

Mr. McGinty said she was providing for as many as 15 people, including her three daughters — who were in the courtroom Monday — along with her mother-in-law, her half-sister from Colombia and her half-sister’s three children.

Mr. McGinty also hinted at unfortunate circumstances that he said were included in the Probation Department’s pre-sentencing report, but did not go into further detail. The pre-sentencing report, like most such reports, was not made available for public view.

Mr. McGinty asked Judge Hillman to balance the harm Ms. Vargas caused her victims with the “enormous pain and difficulty” her crime has caused her family. In arguing for time served, he said Ms. Vargas got and quickly lost a job after her new employer heard of her arrest, and that there was a risk of homelessness.

Judge Hillman consulted with the Probation Department before handing down a sentence of 1 month in prison followed by 2 years of supervised release. He also ordered Ms. Vargas to pay $108,171 in restitution to Athol Savings Bank, which reimbursed all the customers after discovering the thefts.

The restitution will be in the form of a money order that Ms. Vargas will owe the bank. No money was seized from her, Ms. Noto said.

In her statement, Ms. D’Ambra said the bank can’t place a value on its reputation.

“We cannot put a dollar loss on the business we may never get,” she said, adding that the bank prides itself on serving generations of families.

As she walked out of the courthouse with a 90-year-old victim — who asked that her name not be used — Ms. D’Ambra said the sentence didn’t sit right with her.

“There’s very little accountability for what she did,” Ms. D’Ambra said. It bothered her that part of the defense lawyer’s argument was that Ms. Vargas had no prior criminal history.

“So you get one free?” she asked incredulously. In her statement, she’d noted that not only had Ms. Vargas stolen, but, when asked about money missing from an account a month before she was caught, she lied and suggested she must have just accidentally shredded a deposit slip.

“She left my office and instead of being scared and saying to herself, ‘I better stop,’ she stole money seven more times for a total of $25,750,” Ms. D’Ambra said.

Ms. Vargas, who pleaded guilty in February to one felony count of bank fraud and two felony counts of bank embezzlement, stole 55 times in all from the eight customers, Ms. D’Ambra said.

The man who died at 68 was the youngest. The ages of the other customers and the amounts stolen were 80 ($2,000), 84 ($53,425 over 24 withdrawals), 86 ($2,000), 87 ($12,950), 89 ($12,216), 90 ($6,950) and 90 ($10,630).

Ms. D’Ambra told the court the bank concluded its internal controls were sufficient, and that there was nothing it could have done to avoid what occurred.

“We just had a bad employee,” she said, at one point addressing Ms. Vargas and saying, ‘Jessica, you will have to live with this the rest of your life.’ ”

Moments after Ms. D’Ambra concluded her remarkes, Ms. Vargas was given an opportunity to address the court, and did so briefly.

“I just want to say that I’m very sorry for what I did and for those people that I stole from,” she said. “I’m just very sorry.”

Ms. Vargas was ordered to self-surrender to the Bureau of Prisons by July 1. Under the law, she could have been sentenced to up to 90 years in prison and fined up to $3 million.

Judge Hillman declined to impose a fine beyond standard court costs, noting that his priority is to see the bank repaid.

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Ex-teller at Athol bank gets month in prison for stealing over $100K