Quiana Dantelle Ruffin of Halethorpe was a trusted BB&T bank employee up for a promotion when her bosses discovered she had stolen $210,000 over 18 months and gambled it away.
On Thursday, the 35-year-old married mother of two was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but 18 months suspended. Howard County Circuit Judge Timothy J. McCrone also imposed a $1,000 fine, ordered Ruffin to perform 2,000 hours of community service and pay $25,000 in restitution.
"The struggle in a case like this is, I know you're going to be paroled in very short order because it's not a crime of violence," McCrone told her. Because her family home is up for foreclosure and she owes more than it's worth, Ruffin has no assets. She is out of work, so she could not make full restitution during a five-year probation, McCrone said. "My options are not ideal."
McCrone split the difference between prosecutor Colleen McGuinn's argument for a 10-year prison term and defense lawyer Paul Polansky's plea for six months in jail and probation. Ruffin had worked at a branch in the 7200 block of Montgomery Road in Elkridge.
Ruffin has two children, ages 10 and 16, is married and has never been convicted of so much as a traffic violation, Polansky told the judge.
"She's lost everything, her job, her reputation and she's about to lose her house," he said. Polansky called her "a decent, productive member of society" except for her theft spree.
McGuinn pointed out that supervisors who might have caught Ruffin's theft did not because they trusted her and believed her explanations — and then almost lost their jobs because of her theft. Ruffin was questioned by bank officials about $100,000 in missing money in November 2007, halfway through her spree, McGuinn said.
"She had an opportunity to check herself. She could have stopped there. She was on notice," McGuinn said. But she continued stealing and spent the money on lottery tickets, online gambling and trips to Atlantic City. She also attended the Belmont Stakes in 2008.
"She wasn't thinking of her kids. She gambled with her husband," the prosecutor said.
Finally, when a second audit pointed to Ruffin as a suspect and officials wanted to get into a cash machine to which she had access, she refused to turn over the keys. McGuinn said she realized she was caught and told officials to "Blow it up, because I don't care."
A regional manager drilled the machine open and found that $210,000 was missing. A search of her home produced documents related to her gambling, prosecutors said. Ruffin was fired in August 2008 and indicted on felony theft charges in April 2009. She pleaded guilty in January.
"I would like to apologize for what I have done," Ruffin told the judge. "I can't take back what I did, but it will never happen again."