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Stacey Butler reportingSgt. Darren Carr Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Dept.:" IT'S TWO GUYS-- THEY GET TOGETHER--THEY THINK, LET'S JUST TAKE A LITTLE BECAUSE THEY HAVE SO MUCH. NO ONE WILL NOTICE."
They stole from the rich and gave to themselves.
Two trusted bank employees swindle customers out of nearly a hundred thousand dollars.
Two bank employees have confessed to using customers private information to drain their bank accounts.
And the two are facing felony criminal charges this evening.
When you go to a bank teller and hand over your account information, there is an expectation of privacy and trust.
But some customers of Wells Fargo learned the hard way, their money, no matter how it appears to be protected, is fair game.
Sgt. Darren Carr Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Dept.: "Darren:THIS IS FEDERALLY PROTECTED MONEY...WHERE DO YOU THINK IT'S GOING TO BE SAFE?"
It's a question Wells Fargo customers are asking after a bank manager and a teller siphoned thousands of dollars from customers' personal bank accounts.
Sgt. Darren Carr Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Dept.: "IT STARTED OUT AT 40,000 AND THEN IT GREW TO UP TO NINETY SIX THOUSAND."
Branden Bingham and Jesse Carrillo, both 25, face second degree felonies for transferring money from three customers' accounts.
According to court documents, the two; "used their authority and access to the customer information to create a fraudulent account."
Sgt. Darren Carr Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Dept.: "THESE GUYS WOULD WAIT AND SEE IF ANYONE NOTICED THE ACCOUNT."
For three months the victims didn't notice.
In one case they "transferred $50,000.00 from a customers' trust account."
In another--$30,000 and another $14,000.00.
Then last month one customer complained of a discrepancy--Triggering a police investigation.
Sgt. Darren Carr Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Dept.: "THE UNUSUAL THING ABOUT THIS CASE IS THE HIGH LEVEL OF TRUST THESE PEOPLE HAVE. THEY'RE DEALING WITH YOUR MONEY AT YOUR BANK WHERE YOU ASSUME YOUR MONEY IS THE SAFEST."
The defendants allegedly had the bank statements sent to the branch -- not to the customer -- so that the customer would not know about the transactions.
The suspects have no prior record. They passed a rigorous background check before Wells Fargo hired them-- And they were trusted employees for over a year, until last January when, according to their confessions to police, they couldn't resist the opportunity to get away with almost a hundred thousand dollars.
Sgt. Darren Carr Salt Lake Co. Sheriff's Dept.: "THEY JUST END UP GETTING GREEDY AND EVENTUALLY THEY GOT CAUGHT."
The two suspects split the money and walked away with 47 thousand dollars each.
Police say they both provided a full written confession. The money is federally insured and Wells Fargo has already reimbursed all three customers for their losses.
