Megan Kolberg, Bank Embezzlement, Michigan 2013

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN – Megan Kolberg, a 37-year-old woman from Mason, Michigan, has been found guilty of embezzling over $130,000 from Mason State Bank.

According to court documents, Kolberg, who worked as a teller at the bank’s Cedar Street branch, embezzled the funds between December 2009 and May 21, 2013. She regularly embezzled cash from the bank and concealed her actions by making false entries in the bank’s books and records.

On May 21, 2013, as bank officials and law enforcement officers were beginning to uncover her embezzlement, Kolberg reported that an armed man emerged from some nearby bushes, stole approximately $120,000 from the ATM and her teller drawer, and destroyed the surveillance tape. However, at her plea hearing, Kolberg admitted that she staged the bank robbery in an effort to explain why the balances of the accounts that she controlled at the bank were greater than the actual cash on hand at the branch.

Kolberg will face up to 30 years’ imprisonment, supervised release of up to five years, and will be ordered to pay restitution to Mason State Bank. Her sentencing is scheduled for February 29, 2016, at 2:00 p.m. in the United States District Court for the Western District of Michigan.

The investigation was conducted by the Lansing office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Mason Police Department. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald M. Stella.

“Crimes of this nature are not just crimes against an institution, they cause financial losses to the public,” said David P. Gelios, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI, Detroit Division. “It was a strong collaboration between our Lansing office and the Mason Police Department that solved this case and, ultimately, that’s a win for the public.”

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