JACKSON – A teller from Utica accused of embezzling more than $1 million from a Vicksburg bank made her first appearance in federal court here Monday.

Astrid Warnock, 51, pleaded innocent to taking the money in $10,000 increments from Trustmark’s vault in its downtown office over more than four years ending in March.

Warnock’s attorney, Bill Jacob of Meridian, entered the plea in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. Sumner. Magistrates are not authorized to accept guilty pleas, but Warnock is still expected to admit the theft.

The amount taken is believed to be &#8220the largest one we’ve had,” said Sheila Wilbanks, spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office who attributed the statement to John Dowdy, chief of criminal prosecutions.

One employee fraud detection firm, not involved in the case, said the average bank holdup nets $3,200 and the average theft by a bank employee is $125,000.

Sumner released Warnock, who declined to answer reporters’ questions, on a $10,000 bond. An order was to be issued to set a date for Warnock to change her plea and be sentenced.

If Warnock is convicted she could be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison, fined $1 million and ordered to pay restitution. She must receive at least three to five years’ probation, Sumner added.

A bill of information, a procedural alternative to a grand jury indictment, accuses Warnock of taking the money, &#8220usually in $10,000 increments, and creating false debit and credit tickets to disguise her embezzlement,” between Jan. 1, 2002, and March 2 when the pattern was discovered. During part of that time Warnock worked as the head teller at the main Trustmark Vicksburg office, at Washington and Clay streets.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office made the bill of information public on June 8.

Warnock did not comment during the hearing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cynthia Eldridge, who is handling the case, said Warnock may appear before U.S. District Judge David Bramlette in August.

Trustmark officials in Vicksburg this morning continued to refer all inquiries to the Jackson-based bank’s legal department. No spokesman was available.

In another large local embezzlement case prosecuted by federal authorities during the past three years, a Vicksburg woman pleaded guilty to embezzling during a six-year period $637,855 from two federal agencies with offices here. She was given 33 months in a federal prison followed by three years’ post-release supervision and was ordered to repay the money in $500 monthly installments. The maximum in that case was 10 years.

Further details of the Warnock case were not available, but people whose job is to prevent or detect fraud commonly refer to three conditions usually present in such situations as a &#8220fraud triangle.” The three conditions are opportunity, which may arise when controls that would normally be followed are relaxed because a person is in a position of trust; pressure, which may arise from problems with gambling, addiction or overspending; and rationalization of the theft. Some people are able to rationalize fraud as being consistent with their personal code of ethics, information from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants says.

Trustmark is a federally chartered bank.