Quiana Dantelle Ruffin, 34, of the 4400 block of Norfen Road in Halethorpe, pleaded guilty to theft of more than $500 in Howard County Circuit Court. She is to be sentenced April 9.
Senior Assistant State's Attorney Colleen McGuinn told Judge Timothy J. McCrone that she would seek a sentence of 10 years in prison, but McCrone said he would countenance no more than 18 months of incarceration.
According to McGuinn, a random audit at the BB&T; Bank branch in the 7200 block of Montgomery Road in Elkridge in July 2008 turned up a cash shortage. The one-week audit revealed two suspicious entries for a cash dispenser that supplies money for teller drawers to which only Ruffin had access, prosecutors said.
During a second audit, keys to the cash dispenser were missing but were said to be in the possession of Ruffin, who was on vacation at the time. A regional manager for the North Carolina-based BB&T; Corporation drilled open the machine and discovered that $210,000 was also missing.
A search of Ruffin's home turned up documents related to her gambling, prosecutors said. Ruffin was fired in August 2008 and indicted by a Howard County grand jury last April.
Her attorney, Paul Polansky of Baltimore, declined comment Monday afternoon.
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