Published
6 months agoon
A Fresno woman pleaded guilty on Monday morning to stealing more than $70,000 from customer accounts at Fresno-based BANK ONE.
According to the FBI’s criminal complaint, an agent reviewed the bank’s call logs and ATM surveillance video in making the case against Lladira Hernandez, 23.
The FBI took up the case after being contacted by the bank, documents stated.
In one instance, a customer died the day after talking to Hernandez and she stole $7,000 from the customer’s account shortly thereafter.
Funds stolen by Hernandez were returned to the customers, the criminal complaint said.
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According to court documents, the banked hired Hernandez in April 2022 as a customer service representative. She began stealing the account information for customers she helped over the phone and used it to pay bills for herself and her associates.
This included mortgage payments, car payments, and phone bills. In August 2022, Hernandez transferred more than $45,000 from two customers’ accounts into her own account and abruptly quit her job at the bank. She proceeded to withdraw that money from her account and was captured doing so on surveillance video.
After quitting her job at the bank, Hernandez worked as a teller at a local credit union before a warrant for her arrest was issued.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Barton is prosecuting the case.
Hernandez is scheduled for sentencing by U.S. District Judge Ana de Alba on Sept. 5.
Bill McEwen is news director and columnist for GV Wire. He joined GV Wire in August 2017 after 37 years at The Fresno Bee. With The Bee, he served as Opinion Editor, City Hall reporter, Metro columnist, sports columnist and sports editor through the years. His work has been frequently honored by the California Newspapers Publishers Association, including authoring first-place editorials in 2015 and 2016. Bill and his wife, Karen, are proud parents of two adult sons, and they have two grandsons. You can contact Bill at 559-492-4031 or at Send an Email