By FARRAH JOHNSON
Tribune Staff Reporter
fjohnson@tribunemedia.net
A FORMER bank supervisor who last week admitted stealing over $35,000 from customer accounts to help pay her own bills was yesterday sentenced to six months in prison.
Angel Hudson, 25, of Eleuthera, appeared before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt faced with several counts of fraud related offences linked to stealing by reason of employment, falsification of accounts, forgery and money laundering.
During her initial appearances, Hudson owned up to stealing $36,650 from Commonwealth Bank’s Spanish Wells branch while employed there between June 2020 and February 2021.
Officers said Hudson made numerous false entries into the savings accounts of several customers “by posting a fraudulent debit” to purport a decrease in funds in the customers’ respective accounts.
Hudson also forged several withdrawal receipts in the name of bank clients to remove funds from their accounts and deposit the money onto her own bank book and the accounts of people she allegedly owed.
After taking a week to review the mitigating and aggravating factors of Hudson’s case, Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt convicted the accused and sentenced her to six months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services. Hudson was also ordered to pay back the money she stole.
Magistrate Ferguson-Pratt said if she didn’t, she could risk spending an additional 15 months behind bars.
She told the accused while she considered her age and the fact that she was the mother of a young child, she still had to send a “clear message” to every bank teller in the country that stealing by reason of employment was “unacceptable”.
“You cannot have sticky fingers when you are entrusted to deal with people’s money,” she said.
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