A former employee at a bank in Oconee County is facing charges for financial crimes after a decade long investigation. Police began investigating back in 2013 when a customer at Bank Of America in Seneca reported that $30,000 was missing from their account.
The bank then opened their own investigation and determined that other customers at that location had money taken from them, as well. The common denominator in the situation was a Pendleton woman named Bobbi Cortese who was the banker for all the victims. She was later fired by the bank.
The Secret Service was called into investigate and they say that Cortese took nearly $300,000 from four victims over a span of four years. Cortese is also accused of opening accounts in the names of victims without them knowing and using funds from one victim to money taken from others.
Cortese was taken into custody this past weekend. She faces charges for four counts of breach of trust and two counts of forgery.