Federal officials arrested and charged a woman accused of stealing $86,582.14 from three accounts last year while employed with IBC Bank.

Itzel Arlette Vega is being held in federal custody without bond on charges of bank fraud and theft and embezzlement, according to court records.

Vega is accused of stealing the money from July 2021 through September 2021 while she worked at the IBC Bank branch located at 2900 W. Expressway 83 in McAllen.

According to the criminal complaint against her, Vega was in charge of contacting customers whose accounts had gone into dormant status. She forged the signature of a customer who had passed away to reopen the account, signed a change of address form and issued a debit card in the customer’s name to herself, court records say. 

The complaint alleges Vega conducted nearly 30 transactions and withdrawals with the debit card that totaled $10,465.05 before closing the account in September and issuing a cashier’s check in the amount of the closing balance to herself using the address she provided.

The address was traced to an empty lot in Brownsville, according to the complaint.

When the family of the customer went to the bank to claim the money left in the account, they were told the account had been closed and a cashier’s check had already been sent out.

Bank records say the family had not received the cashier’s check, the complaint stated.

Vega was then interviewed by an IBC Bank officer who showed her video surveillance of the ATM withdrawals. After seeing the footage, Vega stated that she falsified the actions on the account and fraudulently used the customer’s debit card.

Further investigation revealed that Vega had performed the same fraudulent activities on two other accounts. She is accused of conducting nearly 240 transactions on the other accounts that totaled $76,121.09.

Agents with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations obtained video surveillance footage of Vega that showed her at multiple locations conducting multiple withdrawals with the ATM cards and then depositing the funds to a personal bank account, the complaint states.

Vega was arrested Friday in McAllen. Her next court hearing is set for March 7. 

"We are aware of the situation and are working hard to gather the facts as quickly as possible," Vega's attorney - Rudy Moreno - said in a statement. "We anticipate having further discussions with the U.S. Attorney's office in hopes of resolving this matter."