Suit Filed Over Fund for Slain Teller’s Kids

The children and ex-husband of a bank teller slain during a Thousand Oaks bank robbery last April have sued the bank, alleging that it is improperly controlling a trust fund set up on behalf of the children.

After Monica Lynne Leech, 39, was shot to death during the armed robbery of Western Financial Bank on April 27, her employers put $100,000 into a trust fund for her children. Outside donors gave another $47,000 to the fund.

The bank then put the money into another account at Bank of America and made Leech’s mother, Elaine Cavaletto, a special trustee who would make final approval on any payments made to the children.

The suit alleges the bank improperly gave control of the $47,000 from outside donors to third-party trustees, the Bank of America and Cavaletto.

And it alleges that the bank created a conflict of interest by making Cavaletto and her husband, Alfred Cavaletto, the beneficiaries in case the children die.

The trustees also have refused to pay about $25,000 that the father, Jeffrey Mince, requested on behalf of his children--Stephanie, 11, and Andrew Mince, 13--whom he used to see on weekends, said their attorney, Dennis Shea.

Now that the children are living full time with their father, Shea said, their father needs to move into a bigger house, buy a bigger car and make other expenses to accommodate the family’s expanded needs.

So far, the trust has agreed only to pay for braces for one of the children and therapy for both, Shea said.

Mike Johnson, executive vice president of Western Financial Bank, said, “We do not have an official comment on the lawsuit.”

The Cavalettos could not be reached for comment.

But Floyd Leech, who helped care for the children as their stepfather for seven years, said the trust fund is meant primarily to pay for the children’s education--and not for other purposes.

“The basic purpose of the trust fund was for future education for the children,” he said. “The people . . . donated with that in mind.”

Leech said Tuesday that Mince is already receiving $1,300 a month in Social Security benefits paid after Monica Leech’s death, and that he is saving $500 a month in child support he no longer has to pay to the Leech family.