WINTER PARK, Fla.,None — Suntrust Bank is facing a lawsuit over the actions of a former bank manager. That manager is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from customers, one of whom is a former state lawmaker.
For Jason and Tanya Fore, the last few years have been a financial nightmare. They blame Tanya's mother, Paula Denise Miller, and Suntrust Bank.
"When you find out all your inheritance, your children's accounts are gone it's very hard," Tanya Fore said.
In 2009, Miller was arrested, charged and later pleaded guilty to theft and embezzlement. At the time, she was branch manager at the Suntrust on Park Avenue in Winter Park.
Prosecutors said she opened accounts using the Fores' information and gave herself access to their home equity line of credit.
"She changed the address from our address to her address so we wouldn't receive the statement," Jason Fore said.
They said she used the account to funnel and eventually steal money from other customers, including former state Rep. Allen Trovillion. In all, she took more than $372,000.
Since then, the Fores' attorney said all the victims have been reimbursed by Suntrust, except the Fores, who are out $191,000, even though federal investigators cleared them of any involvement.
They're suing Suntrust, saying the bank was negligent in supervising its employees, even if Miller is Tanya Fore's mother.
And since some of the missing money is from the Fores' home equity line of credit, they said Suntrust is foreclosing on their home.
"There needs to be more proper checks and balances on branch managers and employees," Tanya Fore said.
Suntrust didn't want to comment, but this is the second case WFTV covered involving a Suntrust employee accused of stealing from customers.
Earlier in February, WFTV reported the arrest of a financial adviser in Volusia County. Investigators said Kenneth Mauchin, who worked at a Suntrust branch in New Smyrna Beach, stole $50,000 from three elderly customers he had befriended.
Suntrust called the case an "isolated incident."
WFTV
