BATON ROUGE — A former Regions Bank manager found guilty of embezzling $250,000 from the bank's Plank Road branch was sentenced to 2½ years in prison by a federal judge Wednesday.

Eric Jason Schouest, 53, must also pay $86,376 in restitution and serve two years of supervised release following his prison sentence.

Schouest worked as a branch manager for Regions Bank from 2010 to 2021. Between 2020 and 2021, he embezzled money from customers and deposited it into personal accounts. He also sent false emails and forged documents to conceal his scheme from other Regions Bank employees.

He used the fraudulent funds to make loan payments on a house and a car, a federal judge added.

Schouest was indicted for the crime in April. Regions representatives said that customers were reimbursed for the fraud.

"It’s been well over three years since the former associate worked at one of our locations. Account reimbursement in this case took place long ago," Regions said in a statement. "What happened here simply does not reflect the way our local Regions team is committed to serving the people and businesses of Baton Rouge.”