PHOENIX – A 35-year-old woman has been convicted of a dozen counts of embezzling $655,000 from a Mesa bank, authorities said Wednesday.

Brooke McDonough of Mesa was convicted by a jury on Dec. 11 after a two-week trial. She faced one count of embezzlement by bank employee, six counts of transactional money laundering and five counts of structuring transactions to evade reporting requirements, according to a release from the Arizona district of the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

McDonough served as the branch manager for the Mesa bank between 2020 and early 2022. She started in June 2021 by stealing cash from ATM machines and the vault inside the branch she managed, the release stated.

She then deposited most of the cash into her personal bank accounts, using different ATMs at multiple bank branches. In total, between June 2021 and February 2022, McDonough embezzled $655,000 from the branch she managed and deposited or spent approximately $645,000 in cash during the same period, federal officials said.

 McDonough broke down her ATM cash deposits into smaller amounts to avoid having the banks file Currency Transaction Reports for deposits of more than $10,000 in cash, officials said.

The case was investigated by the Mesa Police Department and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General.

“We are grateful to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and all of those involved for their outstanding cooperation and dedication throughout this investigation,” Detective J. Macia, Mesa Police Department spokesman, said.

“Their professionalism and commitment were instrumental in achieving this outcome.”

U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said: “Significant trust is placed in business leaders in our community.

“When those individuals take advantage of their leadership position to embezzle large amounts of money from the business they were entrusted to lead, our office will hold them accountable.”

Please submit comments at yourvalley.net/letters or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as those meet our  Civility Guidelines.