Ex-bank employee indicted in $500,000 theft

A Huntsville woman has been indicted on charges she stole more than $500,000 while an employee at SouthBank over a five-year period, the U.S. Attorney's office in Birmingham said in a news release Wednesday.

Keleste Sherrill, 48, a former branch assistant manager at the bank's Jefferson Street location, has been charged with bank fraud. She is alleged to have stolen money from the bank's vault and ATM machines from January 2004 to August 2009, totaling an estimated $533,000.

SouthBank President Art Freeman said bank officials discovered an irregularity on a Friday afternoon in August and completed an internal investigation the following Monday. The next morning he approached Sherrill as she arrived at work to outline what they had found. Freeman said Sherrill was cooperative.

"This is an unfortunate case, I've been in the banking business for 35 years and I've seen this kind of thing happen in more than one case," Freeman said. "When you see things like this reported, you kind of scratch your head, wondering how someone thinks they're going to get away with it.

"They can sometimes get by with it for a while, but eventually they're going to get caught - there are too many checks and balances."

Prosecutors allege Sherrill used ATM ledgers and avoided bank cameras as a part of the scheme.

If convicted Sherrill could face up to 30 years in jail and a $1 million fine.