An Amagansett woman, Samantha Camila Cardenas, 28, was arrested Friday by East Hampton Village Police at the bank she was working at on Newtown Lane on two unrelated charges of grand larceny, both felonies.
Cardenas, police said, had recently started working at the bank. On February 15, police allege, Cardenas stole $4,000 in cash from a fellow worker. The fellow worker had placed her handbag in an area in the bank where the employees eat their lunch and snacks during breaks. Cardenas is said by police to have opened the bag when there was no one else in the area and removed the cash, which the fellow employee had in her bag because she was planning to make a financial transaction that day.
The area in which the employees eat their lunch and snacks is one of the few areas in the bank not covered by security cameras.
Cardenas was charged with grand larceny in the third degree.
When police arrived at the bank Friday, they spoke both to the victim, as well as to Cardenas, who, they say, then confessed to taking the money.
The second, unrelated grand larceny charge against Cardenas stems from an incident that occurred at the YMCA on Gingerbread Lane on October 1. Police said that Cardenas, possibly working with an unknown accomplice, opened a locker in the YMCA and rummaged through a handbag, removing several credit cards, which were then used to make purchases in local stores totaling over $1,000, as well as online purchases of over $600, plus several charges to DoorDash, a food delivery service.
It appears that police had a video of Cardenas, but did not know who she was until they were able to identify her Friday at the bank. Cardenas is said by police to have confessed to taking the credit cards as well. They charged her with grand larceny in the fourth degree for using a stolen credit card based on that incident, the police said. At the end of her video arrangement Saturday morning in front of East Hampton Town Justice David Filer, the justice issued an order of protection for the bank employee police say Cardenas stole the money from, which requires Cardenas to stay 100 yards or further away from the victim at all times.
