Latest news with #KellieJohnson
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Yahoo
Former Cullman bank VP pleads guilty to embezzling over $2M for personal expenses
CULLMAN, Ala. (WHNT) — Federal court records show that the former vice president of the First Community Bank of Cullman has pleaded guilty to embezzlement. Kellie Johnson was charged with bank embezzlement after she took $2,376,325.07 between July 2013 and June 2023 from the bank where she was employed. Madison man federally indicted for sexual exploitation of children Court records show that Johnson is set to be sentenced on August 12, 2025. The maximum sentence for bank embezzlement is: Up to 30 years in prison A fine of no more than $1M Both the above options Supervised release of no more than 5 years A special assessment of $100 According to court records, Johnson 'conducted unauthorized Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions to pay personal expenses that cleared through First Community Bank of Cullman's account with the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, Georgia.' In March, First Community Bank in Cullman confirmed to News 19 that Johnson was the vice president of the bank, and that they discovered the crime was taking place in 2023. Following the discovery of the crime, she was removed from her position. The bank also said they did not suffer any financial loss, and that customer accounts were not accessed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Garden Gossip: April gardening is half inside, half outside
At the Seed Library event at Laramie County Library in mid-March, there were 600 excited gardeners picking from 150 kinds of seeds. If you missed it, there are more free seeds catalogued on the third floor of the main library and at the branches in Pine Bluffs and Burns, said Kellie Johnson, library staff member. As the gardeners trailed by, Laramie County Master Gardeners showed ways to extend the growing season, how to fold seed-starting pots from newspaper and how to slip a dried bean and a wet cotton ball in a tiny plastic bag with a stretchy band so you can wear it and watch the bean sprout hour by hour. I don't think any kids turned down the offer. The people I chatted with included a seasoned gardener, relocating from Texas, who will be attempting to grow vegetables in Wyoming for the first time. Another man confessed he'd never grown anything before and came to see what it was all about. Someone else showed me a photo of the piece of prairie they wanted to make into a garden. One woman told me she has a large vegetable garden already. Another woman confessed to being a novice and came with a friend for support. Someone else confessed to being a Master Gardener intern this spring. The rigorous classes finish up in March in time for interns to put all that new knowledge to work. Gardening in April in Cheyenne is part indoors and part outdoors. Indoors, my forced spring bulbs are finished. The crocuses, daffodils and some tulips did well, but other tulips did not. I'm letting the foliage die back, and sometime this spring I will find places to plant them outside so they have a chance to build up their bulbs to bloom next spring. In April, outside, I need to lift a little of the leaf mulch where I know I have other spring bulbs sending up shoots. I don't want to remove all the mulch — it offers protection when it snows in May. In the house, most of my amaryllis bulbs are blooming. I don't force them to bloom for Christmas, but give them water and sunlight year-round. I've been documenting when they flower for the last eight years (some bulbs are even older), and 85% of the time it's mid-March to mid-April. April is when most of my orchids want to bloom, too. This year, for the first time, two phalaenopsis orchids decided, instead of one, to put up two and even three flower spikes each — and the spikes have branches full of buds! My accidental wave petunia experiment is going well. Last fall, before frost, I cut off all the stems with flowers still blooming and put them in a vase. They continued to grow buds and then roots, so I potted them up. The original plant, cut back to nubs, started putting out new growth where I left it in the garage, so I brought it in, too, and gave it lots of light and fertilizer, and it is now blooming like crazy. Mark is about ready to start his tomatoes: heat mats, shop lights and plastic dome to keep the humidity in until they sprout. Outside, I'm still putting off cutting back most of the perennial flowers. Some flowerheads still have seeds or the birds can use them for perches. I cut fallen stems into 6-inch pieces and add them to the thinning layer of leaf mulch. The two big trees in my garden leave a thick layer every fall, and by spring, I start peeling it back and adding it to the compost pile bucket by bucket. There's also wood mulch that's blown in from the neighbor up the street that I need to sweep up. Little by little, on into May, I cut back the old perennial stems. But I've heard we should also leave some, especially the hollow ones that stay upright, for beneficial insects to lay eggs in, leaving them 12 inches high or so. If the soil dries out enough, I could get a start on digging out more lawn so I have room to plant more perennials. Mark does a lot of digging in his raised vegetable bed in the backyard because every year the trees fill it with roots. But if there weren't tree roots, he could go for the no-till, no-dig option for the raised bed, letting the soil build structure and just adding a few inches of compost. And then comes May, when we shuffle pots of vegetable starts in and out before we are sure the frosty nights are over and they can safely be planted outside.
Yahoo
25-03-2025
- Yahoo
Former Cullman bank VP accused of embezzling over $2M for personal expenses
CULLMAN, Ala. (WHNT) — The former vice president of a Cullman bank is facing embezzlement charges, federal court records show. Kellie Johnson is charged with bank embezzlement. Court documents say Johnson embezzled approximately $2,376,325.07 between July 2013 and June 2023 from First Community Bank of Cullman while she was an employee there. Former Decatur police officer Mac Marquette in court for immunity hearing According to court records, Johnson 'conducted unauthorized Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions to pay personal expenses that cleared through First Community Bank of Cullman's account with the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta, Georgia.' First Community Bank in Cullman confirmed to News 19 that Johnson was the bank's vice president and they discovered the crime was taking place in 2023. She was removed from her position following that discovery. The bank also said that it did not suffer any financial loss as a result of this embezzlement, and no customer accounts were accessed. Johnson is set for arraignment on April 24 at 9:30 a.m. at the federal courthouse in Huntsville. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Aussie mum battle sparks idea for six-figure business: 'Gave up $50,000 savings'
An Aussie woman has shared how her decades-long health battle led her to create a 'lifesaver' product for thousands of women. Nearly one million Australians live with endometriosis, a debilitating condition that has no cure and can completely disrupt women's lives around their period and impact their fertility. Kellie Johnson was diagnosed with stage 4 endometriosis in her twenties but has been living with menstrual pain since she first started getting her period. The 41-year-old Central Coast resident told Yahoo Finance the pain was so severe that she would often throw up or lose consciousness. 'My pain wouldn't stay where my uterus was. It would radiate through my whole torso into my back and down my legs,' Johnson said. RELATED Aussie quits corporate job to launch $1 million company stocked in Woolworths, Coles Centrelink warning over common mistake that could impact your payments: 'We don't' ATO's $11 billion warning for these Aussie taxpayers: 'Moving harder and faster' Johnson was initially put on the contraceptive pill to try and manage her symptoms. She later underwent surgery but her endometriosis recurred within the year. Johnson said endometriosis wreaked havoc on her personal life and career, and she often had to take time off work because of her symptoms or found herself trying to work from the hospital. The sales director, who now has a 17-month-old daughter Lola, said her fertility journey was the 'lowest point' in her life. 'Through my fertility journey, my endo resulted in me having a lot of pregnancy loss, so I had five miscarriages before I finally had my daughter,' she was when she was going through IVF that she took up a new hobby to help pass the time. She had gotten a second-hand sewing machine and, fed up with her old heat packs, taught herself to sew and began crafting her own perfect heat pack. 'I was using heat packs all the time but I was really struggling because they didn't resolve my issue in the way I needed,' she said. 'I really needed a heat pack that would cover that whole area, but I still wanted to be able to walk around and do things and keep the heat in the right spot to help the pain.' Johnson created a hands-free 360-degree heat pack for around the abdomen. She said she cried with relief the first time she tried it on. "It was the craziest feeling. I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed and emotional because having the heat 360 degrees around my uterus, I felt like it felt of stopped the pain from radiating outwards and it nipped the pain in the bud so much better," she said. Johnson said she quickly started contacting manufacturers until she found one that could make her design. She then invested her life savings of $50,000 to create her brand, Kosi, and patented the design. The brand launched in 2023, with Johnson giving birth to her daughter a few weeks later. Johnson recently returned from maternity leave to her sales director role in medical technology, while continuing to work on Kosi on the side. Johnson said endometriosis had had a huge impact on her career journey and she previously 'never spoke' about what she was going through. 'At so many workplaces I've had, I've had to alter the way I work in some way just to try and survive,' she said. 'For example, I've had periods where my endo got really bad so I would be in hospital a lot, so I would take my laptop with me and work from hospital. 'You just worry that people will think that you're being lazy or that you're not taking your job seriously.' Endometriosis Australia found many people were fearful of raising the issue in their workplace, with one in three passed over for a promotion due to their endometriosis, and one in six losing their jobs. 'I think when you feel like you're struggling with pain all the time, you almost feel like you have to work harder to try and prove yourself,' Johnson said. Endometriosis Australia chair Monica Forlano said it was important for workplaces to acknowledge the condition existed in the first place, acknowledge that it could impact productivity, and think about accommodations that could be put in place to support workers. 'Some of the adjustments could be ensuring there's a microwave close by so they can do a heat pack, or allowing them flexibility to work from home when they are having a flare-up,' she told Yahoo Finance. 'The condition creates fatigue, there's pain, there's bloating. So potentially travelling to work can exacerbate it.' The group's research found endometriosis was costing the Australian economy $9.7 billion annually due to medical costs, absenteeism and presenteeism. Johnson is now working to grow Kosi and recently went on Shark Tank where she successfully secured investment from Showpo founder Jane Lu. Johnson estimated that she had sold around 6,000 heat packs, with the business hitting its first six-figure month in November. She said she had people reaching out to her 'every single day' to share how Kosi's heat pads were helping them. 'It honestly makes my heart smile so much because I am them. I had that same feeling when I tried it on for the first time,' she said. 'It's an incurable condition, all you really have is symptom management. Knowing I have created something that is genuinely helping people who have the same struggles as me, that's a really nice feeling.'Sign in to access your portfolio
