Ex-bank employee in Carroll County charged with identity theft

A former Carroll County bank employee has been charged with 13 counts of theft by taking and identity fraud, Channel 2 Action News reported.

Sherri Whitlock Hines, 40, is accused of taking money from accounts and trying to cover it up. Most of the fraudulent activity is alleged to have occurred between March 1, 2010 and April 30, 2011, according to the indictment.

District Attorney Pete Skandalakis told Channel 2, "It is a big case. I mean, $50,000 or $60,000 is a lot of money."

Hines, who is out of jail on $25,000 bond, was terminated from her job as a loan officer at Community and Southern Bank in Villa Rica before an internal audit indicated problems, the woman's attorney, Mac Pilgrim, told Channel 2.

He said the Department of Labor allowed her to receive unemployment benefits.

"She wants people to know that she's not a thief. She did nothing wrong," he said.