Plainfield pair face bank embezzlement charges
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By Thatcher Moats Times Argus Staff - Published: November 14, 2009
BERLIN – An employee at a bank branch in Berlin and his girlfriend have been cited to appear in court to face felony charges of embezzlement for allegedly diverting thousands of dollars from an out-of-state bank account into a local account.
Ryen Koziar, 26, and his girlfriend, Darcy Allen, 23, will face the embezzlement charges in Vermont District Court in Barre in December, according to the Berlin Police Department.
Koziar, an employee at a bank in Berlin that police have not named, is accused of re-routing about $14,000 from a bank account in Massachusetts into a local bank account that is in Allen's name, police said.
Both Koziar and Allen live in Plainfield, police said.
Police received a report of possible fraudulent activity and then conducted an investigation on Nov. 4, along with a fraud investigator from the bank.
Berlin Police Officer Jason Billings, who investigated the case, said Koziar and Allen quickly admitted to what they had done.
"The kid said, 'Yup. I did it, and I want to make it right.' His girlfriend said the same thing," said Billings.
Embezzlement cases can be lengthy, but not this one, said Billings.
"It was pretty fast case, actually," Billings added. "It was over and done with in about an hour-and-half, two hours."
Billings said the money was diverted on two different dates, the second one being Nov. 4 and the first one was about 10 days prior.
Billings declined to name the bank branch because "we have something else on the stove."
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