Bernadine Powers Sentenced in $300K Bank Embezzlement Scheme

Bernadine M. Powers, 41, of Becket, Mass., is going to federal prison for stealing nearly $300,000 from Lenox National Bank. The former bank teller was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Springfield to 18 months behind bars, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $299,793 in restitution. The money vanished over years of deception, false records, and collusion with a fellow teller.

Powers pleaded guilty in September 2016 to one count of conspiracy to embezzle funds from a bank. Her crimes didn’t happen in a moment of weakness—they unfolded systematically. Between 2009 and 2013, she and co-worker Melissa Scolforo raided teller drawers, forged entries, and covered their tracks like pros. The thefts began when Scolforo started pilfering cash in January 2009. Powers joined the scheme around 2010.

Together, they stole a staggering $378,000. The fraud went undetected until a routine bank audit in November 2013 exposed the holes in the records. By then, the damage was done. Lenox National Bank, now absorbed by Adams Community Bank, was left to absorb the loss and clean up the wreckage of internal betrayal.

U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni handed down the sentence, emphasizing the breach of trust inherent in financial roles. Embezzlement isn’t just theft—it’s a violation of the system meant to safeguard hard-earned money. Powers will now serve time in a federal facility, a consequence long overdue for her role in the scheme.

Melissa Scolforo, the other teller in the conspiracy, has also pleaded guilty to the same charge and is awaiting sentencing on January 30, 2017. Authorities have not indicated whether cooperation played a role in Powers’ sentence, but the coordinated nature of the theft suggests both women were deeply involved in the cover-up.

The case was announced by United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen L. Goodwin, based in Ortiz’s Springfield Branch Office, prosecuted the case. The feds are sending a message: steal from a bank, and the federal system will come knocking—with handcuffs.