Fresno Bank Manager Pleads Guilty, Embezzled $100,000 From Bank of America

April 4, 2017 |  

A former branch bank manager plead guilty yesterday to embezzling over $100,000 from her former employer.

In Federal Court in Fresno yesterday, Sylvia Ochoa, 34, of Fresno confessed to the embezzlement from the Bank of America branch she manage on Tulare Street in Downtown Fresno. Multiple times in 2013 Ochoa entered the bank vault after hours and took cash without authorization.

According to evidence, Ochoa used the money to purchase an assortment of luxury goods and $24,000 in cash for a pickup truck for her boyfriend, 24-year old Shanne Leavell. As part of the embezzlement, Ochoa also electronically transferred money to accounts she had established, including one for $69,000 to her boyfriend.

Ochoa faces a statutory 30 year minimum sentence and a $1 million fine. Sentencing will be issued by U.S. District Judge Dale A. Drozd on July 11.