Ex- teller pleads guilty to pocketing bank deposits

A former Candler County bank teller has pleaded guilty to bank fraud after skimming nearly $90,000 from a convenience store’s deposits.

Kayla Evans, 32, of Metter is facing up to 30 years in prison and up to three years of supervised release after completing her sentence as well as substantial fines and restitution.

Evans worked as a teller for the Synovus Bank in Metter, where a local convenience store kept its account. An auditor for the store began noticing substantial discrepancies between the amount of cash presented to the bank for deposit and the amount credited to the store.

An investigation found that from July 2019 through February 2021, Evans skimmed large amounts of cash for her personal use, crediting a smaller deposit to the store. As part of her plea, she agreed to pay restitution for the full loss caused by her criminal conduct and to never again seek employment in a financial institution.

“Bank customers count on their financial institution to operate with honesty and integrity, and Kayla Evans violated that trust,” said Jill Steinberg, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. “This plea offers assurance that Evans will be held accountable for her theft.”

Evans will be sentenced following a pre-sentence investigation by U.S. Probation Services. The investigation was led by the Federal Reserve Board’s Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, working with the Candler County Sheriff’s Office, the district attorney’s office for the Middle Judicial Circuit, and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.