Ex-clerk admits to Kan. bank thefts, staged heist

Another former employee of a southwest Kansas bank has pleaded guilty to embezzling money and helping stage a robbery to cover up the theft.

The U.S. attorney’s office announced Friday that 29-year-old Ashley Cravens, of Ulysses, pleaded guilty to one count of theft from a bank.

The former clerk at Western State Bank in Ulysses admitted that she, another clerk and the head teller embezzled more than $84,000 before the staged July 2010 robbery. Over the next two-and-a-half years, a fourth woman joined Cravens and the head teller in stealing nearly $25,000 more.

Cravens faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine at her Feb. 7 sentencing.

Co-defendant Amber Gutierrez pleaded guilty Monday. The other two co-defendants are scheduled to go on trial next month.