Pennsylvania bank manager allegedly stole over $31,000 from 6 dead customers' accounts - Pennsylvania News Beep

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In Pennsylvania, authorities have charged a former bank manager, alleging she took tens of thousands of dollars from deceased bank customers.

According to a release from the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s Office, Jeri Mains, 43, a former bank manager of the First Commonwealth Bank in Derry, allegedly stole more than $31,000 from six different bank accounts that belonged to individuals who had died (1).

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The district attorney’s release says that an internal investigation by the bank found “several forged internal withdrawal tickets” from accounts allegedly accessed by Mains.

“Derry Police said the accounts were accessed by Mains without authorization or permission between April of 1, 2026 until May 1, 2026, with a total of $31,769.80 removed from the six accounts,” the release says.

The police investigation also found that Mains allegedly “prepared withdrawal tickets to remove the money from an account, often while no customers were in the bank at the time of the transactions.”

The district attorney’s release also says Mains allegedly forged some of the deceased account holders’ signatures, other bank employees’ signatures and “changed accounts from restricted to active in an effort to remove the money.”

The charges that Mains is facing include forgery, theft by unlawful taking and receiving stolen property.

‘Shocked’ by allegations

According to a CBS News Pittsburgh report, the criminal complaint says Mains allegedly withdrew just over $4,500 on April 1, then, two days later, forged another employee’s signature to take $1,300 from a different deceased person’s account (2).

“Investigators said surveillance video shows her then depositing that money into her own account at the bank,” CBS reported.

Mains allegedly took about $2,200 on April 8, forging another employee’s signature, investigators said, then withdrawing nearly $5,000 from another account on the same day, CBS reported.

Police said Mains allegedly made her biggest withdrawal, more than $10,000, on April 22, and then finally took close to $9,000 on May 1 after forging a signature of an employee who wasn’t at the bank, according to the CBS report.

First Commonwealth Bank customer Tiko Murin told CBS he was “shocked” to hear the allegations.

“I’ve dealt here a long time. People are friendly, type of people you wouldn’t think would do anything out of the ordinary,” Murin told CBS.

Another customer, William Snyder, told CBS (3) he was “disappointed” and “stunned” to hear the allegations.

“Jeri’s one of the reasons I bank there. She’s a phenomenal person. Very nice person, very kind, very outgoing,” Snyder told CBS.

“If it’s true, then of course she should pay the price, but again, I don’t like to see people convicted in the court of public opinion before having a chance at due process,” Snyder told CBS.

First Commonwealth Bank told CBS News Pittsburgh that customers impacted by the incident have been fully reimbursed.

How common is bank employee fraud?

A 2024 report by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) analyzing global employee fraud found that banking and financial services was the most common industry represented (4). The cases studied came from survey respondents from 138 different countries and territories, with 38% of those cases coming from the United States and Canada.

The most common type of occupational fraud scheme for banking and financial services was corruption, followed by cash on hand.

The ACFE report also found that while fraud carried out by owners or executives cost the most, it was more commonly committed by employees or managers.

The most common red flags for employees who committed fraud, according to the report, were “living a lifestyle beyond known income sources, or means, which was displayed by 39% of perpetrators,” followed by financial difficulties (27%) and “unusually close association with vendor/customer” (20%).

Though the bank says families have been fully reimbursed, not every case ends that way — which is why monitoring a deceased relative’s accounts should be treated with the same urgency as closing them.

Pennsylvania bank manager allegedly stole over $31,000 from 6 dead customers’ accounts

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