Gail Baker Page, who was a vice president of the Columbus Bank & Trust Co. in 2004 and 2005, was indicted Thursday on the federal charge

Gail Baker Page, who was a vice president of the bank in 2004 and 2005, was indicted Thursday on the federal charge, court records show. Now working with the Social Security Administration, Page stood before U.S. Magistrate G. Mallon Faircloth and pleaded not guilty to the charge that, if convicted of, could get her a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine.former Columbus Bank & Trust Co. vice president appeared in federal court Monday on a bank fraud charge.Page’s indictment states that while she was vice president in November 2004, she withdrew money from a customer’s CB&T account, created a joint account at CB&T for her and that customer and then put the money in it. In December 2004, she created another joint account at SouthTrust Bank by forging the customer’s name. Page started a number of accounts at the two banks, then transferred money from CB&T to SouthTrust before taking the money out of the SouthTrust accounts for her own use, the indictment states.More than $159,000 was lost between November 2004 and September 2005, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan Flanagan said.
Faircloth asked why the indictment took so long.“It was a very long investigation,” Flanagan said.Defense attorney Joseph Wiley Jr., who represents Page, asked for his client to be released on her own recognizance.“She has a number of sufficient ties to this community,” Wiley said.Faircloth granted Page’s release on her own recognizance. Flanagan then said that Page was employed with the Social Security Administration, and that he was concerned that if her job had her handle money, then his office would want to tell her employer about the indictment.Faircloth told Page that either she or a probation officer would inform her employer.