Bank Starts Probe After Deposits of 1,500 Vanish

First Interstate Bank disclosed Thursday that it is investigating the disappearance earlier this month of deposits made by 1,500 to 1,600 of its customers at four of the bank’s branches in the San Fernando Valley.

A bank spokesman, John Popovich, declined to say how much money is involved but acknowledged it “could well be” more than $1 million. Popovich said the bank will reimburse any losses by its customers, some of whom have had checks bounce because their deposits were not recorded.

The disappearance of the checks and cash was discovered when deposits made March 3 at First Interstate branches in Panorama City, North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Burbank could not be found at the bank’s central processing building in downtown Los Angeles.

Popovich said the deposits had been picked up at the branches by a courier service that the bank would not identify. They were to have been taken to Van Nuys Airport, where a bank helicopter was to fly them downtown.

After the helicopter made its delivery, however, officials at the central processing office discovered that deposit bags from the four branches were missing.

‘We Know It Left’

“We know it left the bank, and we’re 90% sure it never got to the central processing center,” Popovich said. “Somewhere in between, these bags, constituting the afternoon receipts, were missing.”

“That’s the end of what we know about it,” Popovich added, saying that the bank has not determined whether the bags were stolen or simply misplaced.

He said the bank is investigating the matter by itself and will not request help from law-enforcement agencies unless it determines that a theft occurred.

Although the deposit slips were lost, the bank has deposit records made when the money was brought in, Popovich said. After consulting those records, First Interstate mailed letters Wednesday to customers who were affected, he said.

Bank officials said most of those customers’ accounts were credited for the amount of the missing deposits during the last week. The remaining customers are expected to be credited by Tuesday.

Charges to Customers

Because they were not credited immediately, some customers have been charged for checks that bounced, late payments and insufficient bank balances, Popovich said.

Popovich said he has heard from “a couple” of customers whose checks bounced. Officials of the State Banking Department, the Los Angeles County consumer affairs office and the city attorney’s office said they have received no consumer complaints.

In its letter, First Interstate promised to compensate customers for any losses and to write letters to customers’ creditors to ensure that their credit ratings are not undermined.

“While there’s nothing we can do to avoid the inconvenience, we want to make sure it doesn’t cost them anything, including their reputations,” Popovich said.

Frank J. Ures Jr., president of North Hollywood-based American Pacific State Bank, faulted First Interstate for reacting slowly to the problem.

Time Lapse Assailed

“I find it hard to believe that this much time went by before contact was made with the customers,” Ures said.

Popovich conceded that it took First Interstate longer than expected to sift through its records to identify those affected. He said the bank decided against the quicker route of immediately writing to all customers at the four Valley branches to avoid triggering any alarm.

If such records are lost again, Popovich said, the bank may change its policy.

Eight months ago, First Interstate had to account for missing deposits because of the robbery of a courier truck carrying deposits from four of its Orange County branches. However, Popovich said the robbery was not related to the problem at the four Valley branches.