Court: Bank rep stole $873,000

LUDINGTON, Mich. (WOOD) - A Ludington-area woman has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges after allegedly stealing nearly $1 million from the bank where she worked.

Stacy Ahlgren was the senior customer service representative for two Ludington branches of Northwestern Bank.

In a plea agreement with federal prosecutors, Ahlgren, who also goes by the name Stacy Kimbler, admits she stole $873,589.76 from the bank between 2006 and 2011.

Ahlgren was the only person allowed to remove money from the vault, according to federal documents, and the one responsible for the cash logs and vault drawer receipts.

Beginning in 2006, she began to take money from her till and the vault, and either took the cash home or deposited it into her own accounts, authorities said.

In 2006, she took more than $140,000, according to the court documents.

That number grew each year, topping out at $188,591 in 2011.

Ahlgren admits she would falsify bank documents in order to hide her theft.

The federal documents do not state how her embezzlement was discovered.

Ahlgren agreed to plead guilty to one county of embezzlement of an insured bank. She could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, though the actual sentence will likely be lower. No date has been set for her to appear and officially enter the plea.