Ex-Bank Branch Manager Sentenced To Prison For Stealing Over $1 Million From Customer With Dementia

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A former Comerica bank branch manager was sentenced Tuesday to more than three years in federal prison for stealing more than $1 million from an elderly customer with dementia and then using it for her own personal expenses.

Marie Fulle, 38, of Newport Beach, was sentenced to 41 months in federal prison via videoconference by United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips.

Fulle - a former branch manager of a Comerica bank in Tustin - was also ordered to pay $1,091,230 in restitution.

She pleaded guilty in September 2019 to two counts of bank fraud.

Prosecutors say from February 2013 to April 2014, Fulle targeted a vulnerable customer – an elderly man with dementia – and cultivated an exclusive banking relationship with him.

Fulle then opened various bank accounts with the victim and used them to create a confusing web in which she could hide unauthorized transfers, and forged withdrawals with cashier's checks.

Over the course of six transactions between February 2013 and May 2013, Fulle embezzled approximately $43,400.

After Fulle lost an anticipated promotion at work in May 2013, she began embezzling larger amounts of the victim's money, prosecutor say she unilaterally changed the address for one of the victim's accounts, which prevented the statements from being delivered to the victim and his bookkeeper.

Fulle manipulated this account for her embezzlement and, after she changed the address, significant amounts of the victim's money began flowing through it. Fulle also conducted much of the victim's banking activities one-on-one in private, away from the view of other bank personnel or security cameras.

During the scheme, Fulle used the money she stole from the victim to pay for Tiffany jewelry, at least one Louis Vuitton bag, spa days for herself and her then-boyfriend, and gambling trips to Las Vegas.

The total loss that Fulle caused to the victim was $1,057,230.

Comerica fired Fulle in April 2014 for embezzling money from her cash drawer. When Comerica subsequently discovered the fraud Fulle committed against the victim, it reimbursed the victim nearly $1.3 million for disputed transactions that Fulle processed, lost interest and attorneys' fees.