Silvis, Illinois woman gets 4 years for embezzlement

A former employee of Southeast National Bank, Moline, was sentenced to four years in federal prison Friday for embezzling nearly $500,000. Sandra L. Savala, 42, of Silvis, Ill., pleaded guilty to the crime in U.S. District Court, Rock Island, in August. She faced up to 30 years in prison.
According to prosecutors, Savala embezzled $481,000 from Southeast National Bank, 3535 Avenue of the Cities, between July 1996 and about February 2004. She was hired in 1991 and was promoted from a teller to loan processor, teller manager and banking center manager.
She first embezzled cash from the ATM machine and later the bank vault. She used the bank's general ledger accounts to hide the shortage created by the missing cash. The bank's general ledger transaction records showed an increasing cash shortage, from $11,500 beginning in July 1996 to $480,000 in February 2004, prosecutors said.
Savala must pay $481,000 in restitution and will serve five years of supervised release