The theft began during the pandemic, when staffing cuts left the Venice branch vault under her sole control—an opportunity she seized as soon as the contingency cash‑bag program was discontinued.
She siphoned cash using the same bag, depositing $255,362 into an account she owned; the total theft reached $280,000, according to IRS records.
To conceal the missing money, Lamanna engineered large customer withdrawals followed by matching fictitious deposits, filing false Currency Transaction Reports that made the moves appear legitimate. The bogus deposit report claimed a $160,100 cash deposit from a non‑existent customer, a lie she knowingly filed on June 8, 2023.
The IRS Criminal Investigation division and the FDIC Office of Inspector General jointly uncovered the chain of false reports, extending into the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. They built a case that linked the vault theft to the fabricated filings.
Lamanna pleaded guilty on July 21, 2025, to embezzlement and a false statement to a federal agency, forfeiting the full $280,000.
Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle sentenced her to 15 months in federal prison on November 14, 2025—well below the 30‑year maximum for embezzlement. The decision underscored how even a single employee’s betrayal can unravel a bank’s trust.
A security officer who first noticed irregularities in the vault logs was forced to confront the betrayal, a stark reminder that vigilance can save institutions from deeper loss.