Local Fifth Third Bank employee arrested on bank fraud charges in Indiana

.A Fifth Third Bank employee was charged with bank fraud after being accused of using customer information to create fraudulent accounts and to gain access real ones, according to court records unsealed this week.Tiffany Nelson was arrested Monday in Hammond and released on a $20,000 unsecured bond.
Nelson allegedly used her employment status with Fifth Third to access customer profiles and accounts -- or create new ones -- between August and November 2009 without customer permission, according to the indictment.It was unknown at which branch Nelson worked, or how much money she is charged with taking in the alleged scheme.Portage attorney Claudia Traficante, who is representing Nelson, did not return a call for comment Tuesday, and Fifth Third Bank declined to talk about the case."We can't offer any comment on an ongoing investigation," said Andrew Hayes, Fifth Third spokesman.When asked whether corporate policy regarding employees with pending criminal charges required job termination or suspension, Hayes said cases are evaluated individually."It just varies depending on the situation," he said. "But if any confidentiality has been breached, we would absolutely remove that person and then begin to repair."Nelson is scheduled to be arraigned in Hammond federal court at 11 a.m. Tuesday in Magistrate Judge Andrew Rodovich's courtroom.