A woman from Pilot Mountain, North Carolina, has been sentenced to 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release for embezzling funds from her employer, First Citizens Bank. The announcement was made by Dan Bishop, United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Sarah Wilson, also known as Sarah Cannoy, age 28, pleaded guilty on August 4, 2025, to three counts of embezzlement by a bank employee. In addition to her prison sentence and supervised release, Judge William L. Osteen, Jr. ordered Wilson to pay $150,450 in restitution.
Court documents show that Wilson worked as a teller at the Pilot Mountain branch of First Citizens Bank between December 2023 and May 2024. During this period, she stole $150,450 in cash from her teller drawer. To conceal the thefts, she entered fraudulent transactions into the bank’s computer system. These included false buy/sell transactions related to the bank’s vault and unauthorized withdrawals from accounts belonging to two elderly customers with whom she was familiar.
The fraudulent activity resulted in significant losses for both customers: one customer’s savings and certificate of deposit accounts were depleted by $59,700 after he was falsely reassured by Wilson about his account status; another customer lost $42,650 from his certificate of deposit account. An audit conducted in late May 2024 uncovered discrepancies with Wilson’s teller drawer balance. This led to an internal investigation by the bank that revealed the full extent of her actions. Following these findings, First Citizens Bank terminated Wilson’s employment and reimbursed the affected customers.
The case was investigated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation – Office of Inspector General and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Laura Jeanne Dildine.
