A teller at BB&T in Copperhill has been charged with embezzling money from a friend’s account at the bank in order to pay her QVC shopping network bills. Cassandra Ryder agreed to plead guilty, according to documents on file at the U.S. District Court in Chattanooga.

According to the Court, Ryder embezzled funds from January 2005 through Sept. 2007. She was knew that the account holder never reviewed the bank statements. Ryder reviewed and reconciled the monthly bank statements for her.

After the account holder received money from an inheritance, according to Court filings, Ryder began creating debit tickets as if the account holder was withdrawing money. She created a debit ticket and took cash from her teller drawer. On numerous occasions, she made cash deposits the following day into her own BB&T account which matched the amount of the funds that had been withdrawn. She reportedly told other BB&T employees that the cash deposits were from rental property.

The theft was discovered when the account holder tried to withdraw money on Sept. 20, 2007 when Ryder was absent from the bank and learned the account had a negative balance. Bank officials began reviewing the account and discovered the numerous debit tickets authorized by Ryder.

Ryder was interviewed by a bank investigator and admitted to removing the funds without the account holder’s knowledge or approval, according to the court document. Ryder said she was addicted to the QVC shopping network and she often purchased items from the network with the embezzled funds.

An FBI special agent reviewed both accounts and found that deposits were made into Ryder’s account within a day after funds were removed from the other account. Ryder’s account showed numerous purchases from the QVC shopping network and there were also numerous other check card purchasing during the time period of the embezzlement.

According to the court document, BB&T suffered a loss of approximately $133,923.24 as a result of the series of embezzlements. Among them was the one Ryder was charged with, an Aug. 24, 2007 incident in which $1,100 was intentionally removed from the account of a bank customer and fraudulently converted to her own use.