EMBEZZLEMENT Pacsi earns time off

FARRELL, Pa. -- Odette S. Pacsi, sentenced to one year in federal prison last February for bank embezzlement, could be released from custody Feb. 2.
Pacsi, 45, of East Judy Lynn Drive, began serving her sentence March 22, 2001, at the Federal Prison Camp at Alderson, W.Va.
She was moved to a halfway house in Youngstown in December and is under the jurisdiction of the Cincinnati Community Corrections Management office of the Bureau of Prisons.
Her targeted release date is Feb. 2, Bureau of Prison records show.
Serving less than her one-year prison sentence means Pacsi earned some time off for good behavior said Robert S. Cessar, the assistant United States attorney who handled her prosecution.
Federal prisoners can earn up to 54 days a year of "good time," Cessar said.
She will have to serve five years' probation after her release.
About the case: Prosecutors said Pacsi, wife of former Farrell Mayor Eugene C. Pacsi, stole $589,000 from the Farrell office of National City Bank over a period of 10 years.
She had been head teller at the office for years and was named manager in early 2000. The bank discovered that funds were missing in August 2000.
Prosecutors said Pacsi took the money is small amounts ranging from $20 to a couple of hundred dollars at a time from teller drawers and the bank vault and was able to hide the thefts by falsifying bank records.
She spent the money on her home and family, prosecutors said.
National City Bank said no customers lost any money in the case.