NEWS

Ex-Ossining bank manager sentenced for stealing $1.3M

Matt Spillane
mspillane@lohud.com
Maria Rodriguez

Stealing more than $1.3 million from bank customers will cost Maria Rodriguez two to seven years in prison, officials said.

The Mount Kisco resident was sentenced Wednesday after she had pleaded guilty in February to first- and second-degree grand larceny and third-degree criminal tax fraud, all felonies, the Westchester County District Attorney's Office said.

Rodriguez, 46, was also ordered to pay restitution to her victims and the state for tax violations, officials said.

Rodriguez worked as the branch manager at the M&T Bank branch in Ossining, where she began stealing from two of the bank's customers in 2008, officials said.

The first victim trusted Rodriguez, whom she knew since the mid-1990s, to help her with banking for her business and personal interests, officials said.

Rodriguez spent five years stealing more than $1 million from the victim by writing unauthorized checks to cash, making unauthorized cash withdrawals, and requesting an ATM card and making unauthorized ATM withdrawals, officials said.

The second victim, a 92-year-old former Ossining village police officer, had more than $190,000 stolen from him, officials said. Over several years, Rodriguez made unauthorized withdrawals from the victim's bank account, officials said. The victim, who would only deal with her at the bank, thought he was withdrawing only the interest out of his account.

Authorities were tipped off to Rodriguez's scam when several bank employees reported suspicious activity to M&T Bank, which investigated and alerted the Ossining village police, who then contacted the district attorney's office.

Twitter: @MattSpillane