East Lyme Man Allegedly Stole $100,000-Plus From Bank Customers

East Lyme resident Alexander Alvarez, 32, was arrested on Wednesday, Oct. 22, for the alleged theft of more than $100,000 from customers of the bank where he was employed, according to Deirdre M. Daly, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut.

The charge of bank fraud carries a maximum term of imprisonment of 30 years and a fine of up to $1,000,000.

On Tuesday, Oct. 21, a grand jury in New Haven returned an indictment charging Alvarez with two counts of bank fraud. He appeared this afternoon [Oct. 22] before U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport and is currently detained. A detention hearing is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 24.

As alleged in the indictment, from January 2012 to February 2013, Alvarez was employed as a Financial Service Representative for a bank in Newington.

While employed at the bank, Alvarez identified accounts that had little banking activity. He then caused the mailing address for the accounts he targeted to be changed from the owner’s address to a fraudulent address so that transactions in the accounts would not be immediately discovered by the account owner.

Alvarez then created fraudulent transfer slips causing the funds to be transferred to another account that he believed was dormant, or to an account that he directly controlled, or to be issued in a bank check. Once the funds were transferred from the owner’s account, Alvarez withdrew the funds from the bank in cash or via an ATM card, or transferred them to his personal banking account.

The indictment alleges that Alvarez stole $100,806.85 from one bank customer and $11,137.01 from a second bank customer.

Daly stressed that an indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. Charges are only allegations, and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The case has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea in Hartford.

This matter is being investigated by the Connecticut Financial Crimes Task Force, the Stratford Police Department and the Greenwich Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Miller.

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(Patch file photo)