West Chicago banker gets probation for stealing from elderly customer

A former West Chicago State Bank employee must serve two years' probation and 30 days in a work-release program for stealing from an elderly man's account, including after his death.

Guadalupe Mendez, 32, of Montgomery, received the punishment Wednesday after she pleaded guilty during an earlier court hearing to felony misappropriation of financial institution property. She faced probation or three to seven years in prison.

Prosecutor Helen Kapas-Erdman said Mendez, a personal banker, pilfered $25,400 from the elderly client's account during a series of illegal transactions during a 21-month period until last summer.

Relatives of the victim, John N. Besch, discovered the withdrawals still were being made from his account last August, one month after the 84-year-old man had died. An internal bank investigation revealed the employee had been stealing since about December 2006.

Mendez, 3106 Whirlaway Lane, did not have a prior criminal history.

She choked back tears Wednesday while apologizing for her actions. Nearly half of the stolen money, she said, was used to pay medical bills for her daughter, now 3, who suffers from a liver disease.

Kapas-Erdman argued, however, that Mendez also was living beyond her means. The defendant and her husband bought a $306,000 home in 2006. Their monthly mortgage, including taxes, was nearly $2,400. At the time, Mendez's annual bank salary was about $30,000.

Mendez paid restitution to the bank, which already paid back Besch's estate. In meting out the punishment, DuPage Circuit Judge Kathryn Creswell cited Mendez's remorse, in part, in opting against sentencing her to prison.