Brooklyn DA: Downtown Brooklyn Bank Teller Steals $80,000 from Accounts

Kings County District Attorney Kenneth P. Thompson said Tuesday that a former Brooklyn bank teller has been charged with using her position to funnel more than $80,000 out of numerous customer accounts to pay her family’s bills.

The defendant was ID'd as as Janese Ferguson, 27, of 146 Beach 59th Street (in the Arverne section of Queens).

She was arraigned in Brooklyn Criminal Court on charges of second-degree grand larceny, second-degree forgery, second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument and first-degree identity theft.

She was released without bail and ordered to return to court on October 29. Ferguson faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Thompson said in a statement, “Within just weeks of being hired as a teller, this defendant allegedly stole money from the bank accounts of customers to pay her own bills."

Ferguson had been hired as a teller at the Signature Bank branch at 26 Court Street in Downtown Brooklyn on November 7, 2012. Between December 2012 and April 2014, Ferguson allegedly made 58 unauthorized transactions from 13 different Signature Bank accounts totaling $80,235.38.

According to the complaint, Ferguson made the transactions—mostly electronic transfers--to benefit herself, her husband, Randell Ferguson and her mother, Darlene Brown. Some of the unauthorized transactions included money transfers to pay Ferguson’s student loan bills and her mother’s credit card bills, and to make Western Union wire transfers in Randell Ferguson’s name.

Ferguson also allegedly created counterfeit checks using Signature Bank clients’ accounts and routing numbers, and used the checks to make payments to collection agencies on behalf of her husband.

DA Thompson said the case was brought to him by his new Cybercrimes Unit.


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