Mason City Bank Teller To Prison

Margaret Marie (Peggy) Sheese, a 54-year-old bank teller from Mason City, Iowa, has been sentenced to more than one year in federal prison for embezzling nearly $70,000 from a Mason City bank.

Sheese pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement by a bank employee on August 16, 2013. As part of her plea agreement, Sheese admitted to stealing $69,200 from Northwood State Bank in Mason City between October 2011 and January 2013.

According to the plea agreement, Sheese made twenty-nine secret withdrawals from accounts belonging to a particular bank customer. Sheese altered the bank’s records to falsely show that the bank customer’s mailing address had changed to a Post Office Box under Sheese’s control. By changing the mailing address, Sheese caused the bank to send the customer’s account statements to Sheese rather than to the customer.

In addition to the secret withdrawals, Sheese also admitted to stealing $2,000 in cash from the bank on January 15, 2013. Sheese’s actions were discovered, and she was subsequently charged with embezzlement by a bank employee.

Sheese was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. Sheese was sentenced to fourteen months’ imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and she was ordered to make $71,680 in restitution to the victim bank and its fraud insurer.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter Deegan and was investigated by the Mason City Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl, with the case file number being 13-3026 LRR.

Sheese was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the United States Marshal on December 16, 2013. With no parole in the federal system, Sheese will be required to serve her full sentence.