Bank teller pleads not guilty to stealing $32G

Bail was set at $36,000 cash or $72,000 bond Saturday for a Wantagh bank teller charged with stealing more than $30,000 from an elderly customer over a two-month period.

Osbourne Heron, 26, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment at First District Court in Hempstead. His family members declined to comment at the courthouse.

Nassau County police said that while Heron was working as a teller at Investors Bank on Wantagh Avenue, he filled out withdrawal slips and forged the signature of an 82-year-old man on nine separate occasions between July and September 2013, withdrawing a total of about $32,000.

Police said the bank's internal investigation was sparked when the customer came in with another person who asked questions about the heavy drawdowns of the elderly man's account. The bank's investigation pointed to Heron, police said.

Heron, who lives on Norton Drive in Roosevelt, was arrested at the bank on Friday afternoon and was taken into custody "without incident," police said. Heron was charged with third-degree grand larceny and nine counts of second-degree forgery.

Heron's Legal Aid attorney had asked for conditional release to probation because these charges are Heron's first contact with the criminal justice system.

Heron is due back in court on Tuesday, according to online court records.