Million-dollar secret: Cops mum on alleged big bank theft in Eatonton

How might tellers at a small-town Georgia bank have skimmed an estimated $1.2 million from the till? What's more, what might they have done with it?

If the authorities know -- and they just might -- they weren't saying Thursday.

A day after news of the alleged fleecing came to light as part of probes that so far have implicated three tellers at The People's Bank in Eatonton, the town's police chief and the bank's president chose their words carefully.

Chuck Haley, the bank's president and CEO, was quick to note that "no customer accounts were affected. None."

He said the bank, in a statement to customers, has made that much clear. He told The Telegraph by phone that he wished he could say more.

"I have actually emailed today to my FBI contact and said, 'Look, I'd like to give a little bit of clarification on this.' He said, 'I can't tell you what to say, but our comment would be, 'It's an ongoing investigation. We have no comment,'" Haley said.

"And if I say something that is incorrect and I screw up the prosecution of this case, I'll never forgive myself. So I've really, really got to just go with what they're telling me right now. I wish that I could just tell you everything, but I can't at this point."

Police and the FBI have declined to discuss the case or explain how the alleged thefts may have happened.

A few details emerged Wednesday when a pair of tellers at the bank were jailed on theft by taking charges.

According to arrest warrants, tellers Vicky Martin, 57, who lives in the Morgan County town of Buckhead, and Brandy Mize, 39, of Eatonton, allegedly began taking money from the bank in 2014.

The warrants do not mention how much money may have been stolen, just that it exceeded $1,500. Law enforcement sources familiar with the case have estimated the amount at $1.2 million.

Another teller, Jeanette Williams, was arrested early last week, accused of taking $32,000 from the bank over a span of years. Her alleged crime, according to authorities, dates back to 2008 and ended sometime this year.

It was the Williams case that apparently tipped off bank officials and led them to more missing money, said Eatonton Police Chief Kent Lawrence.

"Everybody was shocked to hear that this had taken place," Lawrence said Thursday.

That said, bank teller involvement in cash-stealing schemes is not uncommon.

Last month, a New York Times article bore the headline "Bank Tellers, With Low Pay and High Access, Pose a Rising Security Risk."

The article noted that while much focus today is devoted to cyber crime and identity theft, authorities contend "it is the more prosaic figure of the teller behind the window who should worry depositors."

In Michigan last year, a teller who'd reportedly attended a PNC Bank customer's funeral -- and, according to one account, "hugged his grieving mother" -- within days allegedly swiped more than $100,000 from the dead man's savings account.

Another Michigan teller, according to a write-up in the Lansing State Journal, pleaded guilty in 2015 to staging an armed robbery to cover up the theft of nearly $100,000 over a roughly three-year span. That teller, as part of her scheme, was said to have falsified bank-deposit amounts.

Meanwhile in Eatonton, Haley, the bank president, stressed that client accounts were not affected.

"The bank is the victim here," he said.

Founded in 1944, the bank is situated between the Putnam County Courthouse and a Popeyes.

It is a low-slung modern edifice on South Jefferson Avenue, the main north-south drag through downtown.

On its website, the bank projects a hometown earnestness, promising "personal service" and that customers "will never be forced to bank with a machine."

Said Haley: "What we've had is the whole community wrapping their arms around us, expressing their concern for us and how sorry they are that this sort of thing is going on."

To contact writer Joe Kovac Jr., call 744-4397.

This story was originally published March 24, 2016 at 6:18 PM with the headline "Million-dollar secret: Cops mum on alleged big bank theft in Eatonton ."