Yolanda Quesada Fired From Wells Fargo For Shoplifting 40 Years Ago

Wells Fargo fired Yolanda Quesada after a criminal background check found she had shoplifted 40 years ago.

Imagine getting fired for a crime you committed not one, not two, not three, but four decades ago.

That’s what happened to one Milwaukee woman. Wells Fargo fired Yolanda Quesada after a background check found that she shoplifted in 1972, a local NBC affiliate reports. Though Quesada acknowledges she committed the crime, she says shoplifting shortly after high school shouldn't be something that influences her job standing.

"[I'm] very good at what I do for Wells Fargo," Quesada told the television station.

Quesada, who is now 58, was fired shortly after receiving a report from an FBI background check in the mail, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reports. A Wells Fargo spokesman told the Journal-Sentinel that the company began performing thorough background checks on all existing mortgage unit employees last year "due to legal requirements and changes in the regulatory environment."

"Because Wells Fargo is an insured depository institution, we are bound by federal law that generally prohibits us from hiring or continuing the employment of any person who we know has a criminal record involving dishonesty or breach of trust," Wells Fargo spokesman Jim Hines told the Journal-Sentinel.

Banks hiring workers may be particularly sensitive to taking on employees with a record of property crimes, according to a report from the National Institute of Justice. There is no empirical evidence indicating when it's safe to hire an ex-offender, according to the report. Still, most employers choose an arbitrary statute of limitations that is usually somewhere between five or 10 years.

Additionally, new guidelines from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission now make it easier for employers to hire workers with criminal records. The rules suggest that employers give applicants a chance to explain any crimes on their record before outright rejecting them.

Quesada is only one of many Wells Fargo workers to lose their jobs in recent months. The bank eliminated positions in its technology and operations unit in November in an aim to cut costs, according to Reuters.

Wells Fargo, the nation's largest bank by market cap, has itself been accused of improper actions recently. The bank currently faces at least two federal probes into how it treats minority borrowers and the properties it owns in minority neighborhoods.

Before that, it reached a $148 million settlement over separate charges that it systematically overcharged state and local governments.

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Comments

[GAlife72]

02:55 PM on 11/17/2012

Remember... only corporations and heads of company's are aloud to be crooks and get away with it.

[ajonas45]

02:15 AM on 05/25/2012

Hi everyone, I am confused Title 19 only keeps a bank from hiring a "convicted" person if it was a felony -- where the potential penalty is greater than a year. With a shoplifting of less than $400 the crime would be a misdemeanor and not covered in the "truth/honesty" provisions of 19 section 19 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act ("Act"), 12 U.S.C. 1829 . . . "individuals who were indicted or named in informations or other complaints for crimes involving dishonesty or breach of trust which were punishable by imprisonment for a term exceeding one year could be suspended." I see "1 year or more" and see "could" in the US Code. Even if she had been convicted of Felony [the more than 1 year stuff] she would upon successful completion of probation received a misdemeanor finality, if not less. So, perhaps, WFargo was not forced" to fire her. They just did not want her and this way they could do that "for cause. Too many years out of Law School, but this all rings a bell. Apologies for the length.

[John Pfharma]

10:00 PM on 05/24/2012

Wells Fargo hiring? Only people who can walk on water need apply. JP.

[John Pfharma]

10:07 AM on 05/24/2012

Sorry to here about that Wells Fargo, i think i will transfer all of my funds to TD Bank. JP.

[Mike Halper]

01:42 AM on 05/18/2012

Read how Wells Fargo jerked this poor man around was going to foreclose his home then he paid what they wanted they said they never got the payments jerked him around so bad he snapped committed suicide all the top Ceo's in all banks should be fired today all the money they took and never used to help homeowners should be equally divided and sent to therir customers it is not their money and they never used it to help anyone.BANKS, MORTGAGE COMPANIES OIL COMPANIES ALL CROOKS LIERS I HOPE THEY ALL GET THEIRS TOMORROW CANIDATES FOR HELL

[Bdub24]

10:38 PM on 05/17/2012

It almost sounds like they were looking for cause to let her go because this seems like a serious reach. I'd think if they did a thorough background check on others, higher ups included, that many more in their company would be victimized by this policy. I wouldn't be surprised to hear some media outlet took to having conducted background checks on Wells Fargo management just to have them realize they might need to rethink that policy.

[monicaevolving]

08:27 AM on 05/17/2012

Wells Fargo firing a woman for a shoplifting crime committed 40 years ago is so ironic in light of what the big banks have been doing lately to breach the public trust such as stealing billions from taxpayers and clients because of excessive gambling and betting against their own clients.

Judging from the article Wells Fargo's hands are not exactly clean..
They have also been accused of predatory lending and investing in for-profit, private-prison companies.

But, has one executive from any of the big banks faced any penalty from these machinations.

Here's a woman who looks like she turned her life around and has been a good citizen for the past 40 years.

[luv2livzen]

02:27 AM on 05/26/2012

F&F! Oh my G*d! Firing her is ridiculous! And considering All the Felonies/ Unethical actions of SO Many in the mortgage mess! & they made BIG $$$ illegally! Especially the Banksters & Wall St. Mob. (not 100% were involved) I Can't believe that her shoplifting at age 18 -- FORTY years ago -- has any legal standing in her being fired! Like another poster stated - it's Way too long ago for a misdemeanor. I wonder if she'll sue & how that will turn out. Attornies have likely already contacted her-- wanting to take on this injustice.

I'm in her general age group. I have Never shop lifted, & I don't condone it -- period. Honesty is a Big Value for me, & for those I choose to be around. But, who hasn't done Something Sometime at age 18, etc., that wasn't acceptable? Ex.) underage drinking, smoking weed, (or stronger drugs), or driving 'just a little above the legal limit', (although you thought you were WithIn the legal blood/alcohol limit), or maybe arrested at a Peace March (anti-war) -- caught up in the 'mob arrest' & yet didn't Do anything, or you were legally/ rightfully arrested for blocking traffic or whatever, during the march/ sit-in., etc., etc. The last several POTUS have smoked weed -- should that have disqualified them? Not IMO.

[Saxor]

03:02 PM on 05/15/2012

I really feel bad for this woman but at the same time have a mixed feeling about whether her firing is justifiable of not. I know that the conviction was 40 years ago but if I had a Day Care and found out that one of my worker had a child molestation conviction 40 years ago, I probably would have let her go too.

We entrust our money and personal information to financial institution, and in return, they have fiduciary duty protect our interest. Scrupulous people make money selling stolen personal information in black market.

[Ant775]

04:27 PM on 05/17/2012

Are you kidding me? There is no comparison, because clothes and children are two different things. She has been an upstanding citizen for decades and should have been given a chance to to keep her job. The United States is the only country in the world that puts away it's children forever and allows childhood indiscretions to follow us for the rest of our life.

[Arbitratorman]

03:50 PM on 05/22/2012

Federal law that prohibits the employment of a person with a criminal record who works in such a capacity and you must be capable of being bonded and so after uncovering this what would you propose Wells Fargo do?

[mydangself]

11:17 PM on 05/14/2012

So, what was she actually convicted of or plead guilty to for each?

[wslassoc]

01:07 PM on 05/14/2012

This is what all the government intervention does to good people!

[davidspeicher]

07:22 AM on 05/14/2012

http://www.fdic.gov/regulations/laws/rules/4000-9010.html
If she plead no contest she was quilty and even though she did not serve a year it was involving a breach of trust or dishonesty.

[demandhonesty]

07:19 AM on 05/14/2012

What about the CEO, other officers and the Board of Directors, are they subject to the same rules?

[luv2livzen]

02:36 AM on 05/26/2012

F&F! The breach of trust/ dishonesty, etc., is Rampant on Wall St., including banks!! I don't need to tell you that, though! This story really ticks me off! IMO it's a case where nobody checked with 'Common Sense', who would have said that 40 yrs. ago, at age 18, & a misdemeanor is not a problem!

[f4180]

06:35 AM on 05/14/2012

Well , how long ago did Romney cut the kid's hair ?

[davidspeicher]

07:23 AM on 05/14/2012

he was not 18 and you need to review your facts.

[IMissAmerica]

07:51 AM on 05/14/2012

aren't we touchy?

[monicaevolving]

09:05 AM on 05/17/2012

He was old enough to face penalties if the elites actually had to abide by laws.

[aaabrendab]

06:18 AM on 05/14/2012

Have Obama give her a pardon.

[servicemasterwv]

06:43 AM on 05/14/2012

she would have had more luck if huff reported this story while bush was in office

[twbnana]

06:08 AM on 05/14/2012

That poor woman-I feel bad really do! Govenment is up and ready to do the darn jobs! Look Whity Bulger is finally in jail here in Mass. FBI he was here in our good old US ofA Hire TSA!

[jo jo jo jo]

06:48 AM on 05/14/2012

Was that English?