Ariel woman sentenced for embezzling from Ridgefield, Washington bank

An Ariel woman was sentenced to seven months in prison for embezzlement Monday in U.S. District Court in Tacoma, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.




Authorities said Michele L. Chartier, 26, pleaded guilty in July to embezzling $60,000 from a vault and cash dispensing machines at the Ridgefield branch of the IQ Credit Union, where she worked as an assistant manager.



Chartier, who was first hired at the credit union in 2004, embezzled the money between March and September of last year, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.



Authorities said Chartier tricked a customer into signing loan papers, then used the proceeds of the fraudulent loan to cover her crime.



Chartier will also serve two months home detention following her prison term, authorities said.

Former Tacoma, Washington KeyBank employee sentenced for embezzling

A bank employee from Tacoma was sentenced Wednesday in federal court for embezzling more than $100,000 from several customers. Jeffrey Lynn Giddings Jr., 27, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to a year in prison and six months of home detention and was ordered to pay $112,626 in restitution.
Giddings, who was an operations manager at the Hawks Prairie branch of KeyBank, pleaded guilty to bank embezzlement in December 2009. From October 2007 to February 2009, he took out loans totaling $45,000 in a relative’s name and stole money from the account of another relative. He also withdrew more than $50,000 from the account of an elderly couple.
Giddings’ colleagues eventually became suspicious and reported him.