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Former Jim Thorpe bank official sentenced for embezzlement

A former supervisor for a Carbon County bank who admitted stealing over $300,000 from customers' accounts will be spending the next two years in prison.

Shelly Ann Kocher, 43, of Lehighton, stole $321,324 from accounts at Jim Thorpe National Bank, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Scranton.She was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Richard P. Conaboy to 27 months in prison and ordered to pay $444,570 in restitution.Upon her release, Kocher will serve three years probation for embezzling approximately $376,924 from customers' accounts while she worked as a customer service supervisor at Jim Thorpe National Bank in Jim Thorpe.She was ordered to begin serving the sentence on Feb. 11.The charges were filed against her Jan. 21, 2014, and she entered a guilty plea on March 10.According to U.S. Attorney Peter J. Smith, Kocher was employed by the bank from 1999 until May 2013.Kocher embezzled the funds by making unauthorized withdrawals from customers' CD and savings accounts between April 2010 and April 2013, according to court records.When the shortages were discovered, the bank reimbursed the victims for their losses.She took $287,324 from two customers by making frequent unauthorized withdrawals from their CD and savings accounts between Sept. 28, 2010, and April 16, 2013, according to court documents.She also stole about $34,000 from another customer by making unauthorized withdrawals from the CD and savings accounts between April 6, 2010, and Dec. 21, 2010.