Carthage bank manager who embezzled to feed her drug addiction sentenced to six months

A former manager of the U. S. Bank branch in Carthage will report to federal prison April 22 to begin a six-month sentence for embezzlement.

The sentence, which was handed town today in U. S. District Court in Springfield, was slightly less than the eight months the government recommended for Elisha Stukesbary, 38, in a sentencing memorandum filed earlier this month.

After Stukesbary completes her sentence, she will be placed on supervised probation for five years. She will also be required to repay the $35,000 she stole.

Stukesbary told investigators she stole the money to feed an illegal drug habit.

The thefts took place between December 3 and December 15, 2018, according to the grand jury indictment.

Stukesbary's crime was detailed in the plea agreement.

U.S. Bank officials advised that after an internal audit was conducted, Stukesbary's irregular cash transactions were detected by bank examiners.

According to the internal audit, bank officials observed that Stukesbary made several miscellaneous debits for varying amounts of cash from her teller drawer.

Bank officials then observed that Stukesbary would then reverse the debit transactions a few seconds after the original transaction was performed.

Upon scrutinizing Stukesbary’s transactions more closely, bank officials observed that between December 3, 2018, and December 15, 2018, Stukesbary performed numerous debit transactions and reversals that totaled $35,000 in monies that were determined to be missing from Stukesbary’s work station.

On January 4, 2019, officials with U.S. Bank met with Stukesbary at her office, located at U.S. Bank, 2208 South Grand, Carthage, Missouri.

During the meeting, officials asked Stukesbary about the $35,000 in cash discrepancies and the “forced balancing” of the ledger associated with her work station. When asked if there was anything that Stukesbary wanted to tell bank officials, (she) stated, “I did this. I stole the money.”

Stukesbary advised that she had an addiction to illegal drugs and apologized for stealing from the bank.

As Stukesbary was removing her personal belongings from her office, she removed an envelope from her desk drawer and handed it to Jeremy Goebel, the District Manager for U.S. Bank.

Stukesbary told Goebel, “You’re going to want this.” Goebel looked in the envelope and observed that it contained cash transaction tickets for each of (her) prior fraudulent “cash out” transactions.

Goebel stated that Stukesbary admitted that although she did not submit the cash transaction tickets, but she always kept each cash transaction ticket completed and hidden in case she was subject to a surprise audit.

Stukesbary admitted that she did this so that she could produce the belated documents to the give the appearance the cash transaction was complete and legitimate.