When the extent of Shelley Williamson's plunge from grace was revealed in court last month, it provided plenty of fuel for conversation in Wanaka's coffee shops and workplace tea-rooms.
The tall, blonde South African immigrant was a familiar face with bank customers but she has kept a low profile since her offending was made public.
Her parents and partner have closed ranks around her and, when approached, declined an interview on her behalf.
Former work colleagues have also declined to discuss the case, referring questions to the BNZ's external relations manager Diane Maxwell in Wellington, who issued a brief statement on behalf of branch manager Penny Ford following Williamson's sentencing on Monday.
"We are a small close-knit team in Wanaka and this betrayal of trust has affected us deeply.
"It has been a very emotional time for the team.
"We have processes in place to prevent this kind of fraud occurring, and through those processes Shelley was caught.
"However, she managed to conceal her actions for a period of time and we have reviewed our processes to determine how that occurred and ensure we make any necessary changes going forward," Mrs Ford said.
Mrs Ford, who attended the sentenc-ing, confirmed Williamson had been dismissed from her job at the bank.
According to the BNZ website, Williamson was a keen skydiver who joined the Wanaka branch in 2004.
Within 15 months, she was named the bank's Teller of the Year 2006 and presented with the bank's most prestigious internal accolade "for exemplary behaviours and actions as well as outstanding achievements", the Chevron Award.
She went on to become a banking adviser.
When Williamson won her Chevron Award, she acknowledged Mrs Penny Ford, her mentor, as a great leader with an "approach to training that makes it easy to be successful".
Mrs Ford spoke in glowing terms of Williamson and her "incredible enthusiasm and willingness to go the extra mile for all customers".
Williamson had arranged extended opening hours to serve ski workers who needed to do their banking after work.
To all appearances, she had been performing to a very high standard.
She had overseen mortgage applications and had made a good impression on customers.
Although condemning fraud, there was some compassion for someone whose lawyer said had fallen prey to Wanaka's wealthy, worldly ways.
But the customers had not realised she was also the unnamed woman earlier reported in September to have deliberately driven her car into the path of another vehicle containing Sean and Amanda Cleverley, of Timaru, near Wanaka Airport.
Mrs Cleverley was seven months pregnant.
Police described Williamson as suicidal that day.
Fortunately, Mrs Cleverley was uninjured and delivered a healthy child the same day Williamson made her first court appearance in Queenstown last month.
After the accident, Williamson's damaged car was left outside the new house she shares with her partner at the Timsfield subdivision in Lake Hawea.
The car is still there. The curtains came down and Williamson dyed her hair bright red.
The house is on the market.
