Sentencing set for ex-Alaska bank employee who stole $4.3M

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A former Alaska bank employee who stole $4.3 million in cash and fled to Mexico is set to be sentenced for the crime.

Alaska Public Media reported Thursday that 33-year-old Gerardo Cazarez Valenzuela pleaded guilty to theft of bank funds after he was extradited to the U.S.

According to court documents, the former cash vault services manager loaded boxes of cash onto a cart and wheeled them out of a KeyBank in Anchorage in 2011.

Valenzuela then took a private jet to Washington state and drove to Mexico.

Federal prosecutors say Mexican authorities arrested Valenzuela on smuggling charges after finding cash and guns on him during a random search. He was jailed in Mexico for seven years.

Valenzuela is scheduled to be sentenced April 29.