A former bank manager, who stole approximately $1.5 million from a customer’s account at Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS) where she was employed, is to be sentenced on July 4 in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.

Fifty-five-year-old Jacqueline Johnson of Rosemount, Linstead in St Catherine, pleaded guilty to seven counts of larceny as a servant when she appeared in the court before Parish Judge Chester Crooks on Thursday.

According to court documents, Johnson — whilst employed at the Spanish Town branch of VMBS — prepared seven cheques over a period of time and gave them to unsuspecting bank tellers under her supervision to encash.

The cheques were drawn on the customer’s account.

A woman, who is a joint holder of the account, later made enquiries and discovered that the money was missing.

She reported the matter to the bank and an investigation was launched, which later resulted in Johnson’s arrest.

Johnson is also facing seven counts of forgery and uttering forged documents, but her lawyer, Sean Kinghorn, told the court that his client came prepared to answer to only one charge and would sort out the other two on the next court appearance.

Judge Crooks then ordered a social enquiry report and scheduled the date for sentencing.

However, before the judge extended Johnson’s bail, he advised Kinghorn that restitution would go a far way in mitigating his client’s sentence.

— Tanesha Mundle