Personal Banker Steals $122,000 from Client, Get Prison Sentence

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — A personal banker from New Rochelle will be going to prison for stealing more than $120,000 from a client.

Matthew Gunther, 34, of Cliff Street in New Rochelle, was sentenced Wednesday to 1-1/2 to 4-1/2 years and multiple sentences of one to three years in state prison to run concurrently after being found guilty by a jury of the following:

• Second-degree grand larceny, a felony
• Three counts of second-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument, felonies
• 15 counts of second-degree forgery, felonies
• Fourth-degree criminal tax fraud, a felony
• First-degree offering a false instrument for filing, a felony

Westchester County District Attorney Anthony A. Scarpino Jr. said, from approximately Dec. 13, 2012, through July 12, 2013, Gunther, who was a personal banker at the Chase Bank branch in Getty Square in Yonkers, stole $122,000 from a Chase customer’s account.

The victim came into the bank branch to deposit money from a Chase CD which had just matured and asked that it be placed in a savings account.

Gunther set up the new account and knew that the customer wasn’t expecting to use it on a day-to-day basis. The victim had another account for that purpose.

Gunther used his own password and user ID to carry out numerous cash withdrawals at the bank counter.

Bank documentation, as well as video surveillance inside the bank, showed Gunther withdrawing the victim’s money when the victim was not there.

After the victim set up the savings account, he did not return to the branch until the summer of 2013. At that time, he wanted to withdraw a large portion of his money only to learn of the thefts.

The defendant has a restitution judgment of $122,100 along with his prison sentence. In addition, the defendant failed to pay New York State Income Tax on the monies that he stole from the victim. The amount he owes New York State in tax is $9,336.

The defendant was remanded to the custody of the New York State Department of Corrections.

Photo caption: Matthew Gunther. Photo credit: Westchester County District Attorney's Office.