SAN DIEGO (NEWS 8) – A Chase bank employee who stole $300,000 from four elderly customers she befriended at the Imperial Beach branch was sentenced Wednesday to nearly four years in state prison.
Leona Parsons, 49, previously pleaded guilty to six charges, including theft from an elder, forgery and identity theft.
"In the span of four years, this defendant gained the trust of her returning customers and then violated that trust by stealing tens of thousands of dollars from each victim," said District Attorney Summer Stephan. "The defendant would insert herself in their lives, attending funerals and making bedside visits in the hospital, to ingratiate herself with the victims, all while stealing their money."
The victims had known Parsons for so long, they considered her part of their families and allowed her to run errands and visit them in their homes, according to Stephan.
On Wednesday, One-by-one, victims spoke directly to Parsons who befriended them so she could steal from the.
“Leona, why did you do what you did to me? How can you live with yourself? Every one of us trusted you and thought you cared for us,” said Leroy Edwards.
Parsons worked in a branch in Imperial Beach. As personal banker with an office inside the branch, she methodically siphoned cash from the victims' bank accounts by inflating withdrawal slips when they would come in to conduct business.
The most common scheme Parsons used was to have victims sit in her private office while she completed a withdrawal slip for them in the amount they requested. Unbeknownst to the victims, she would then alter the withdrawal slip so it was inflated by hundreds or even thousands of dollars at a time, prosecutors said.
Parsons stole $126,000 from Marie Mussman since 2014. “It's hurt a lot of us, but I cared about her. I hate what is going on. She did a bad thing. She’s going to have to go to jail,” said Mussman.
The defendant would personally take the slip to the teller, make the withdrawal and return to her customer with the bank envelope full of the withdrawn amount. Parsons would present the customer with the money they requested and keep the inflated amount, concealed in the bank envelope. In addition to that scheme, which she used about 85 times in four years, Parsons forged withdrawal slips when customers were not in the bank, prosecutors said.
Chase bank terminated Parsons as soon as her scam came to light and reimbursed all of the victims for their losses, according to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.
Maria Elena O’Hara said her family had known Parsons for 20 years. Her dying husband told her, ‘When I am gone you can trust and confide in Leona. He said she is very good at what she does. She will help you out.’
At one point in court, Parsons shook her head as investigators described her crimes. When it was her turn to speak in court, she asked for forgiveness. “Saying sorry does not seem to be enough. I also betrayed everyone’s trust. It is something I have to live with because I was in a position where people trusted me.”
Leroy Edwards, who is 94-years-old, said he does not hate Leona. “I feel sorry for her. I personally hope she goes on her knees and begs the Lord for forgiveness.”