Former BMO Bank employee sentenced to prison

A former Grant County bank employee, accused of taking $134,498 from customer accounts, recently was sentenced in federal court to a year and a day in prison and ordered to make restitution. 33-year-old Samantha Watters of Boscobel, knew customer account balances, passwords and other personal information when she was a retail relationship banker at BMO Harris Bank in Lancaster. According to court documents, between March and October 2023 Watters regularly forged customer signatures on withdrawal slips to take their money without consent. Watters moved money between at least eight customer accounts to conceal the previous unauthorized withdrawals. Watters was indicted in federal court March 12, 2025, on three counts of bank fraud involving the BMO thefts and pleaded guilty in July to one count involving an unauthorized withdrawal of $9,800 from a customer account. Watters is also accused of stealing $10,000 from Boscobel Pharmacy where she worked following BMO Bank. She is charged in Grant County with retail theft and has a Nov. 19 status conference scheduled in that case.