ROANOKE TIMES

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, May 6, 1994                   TAG: 9405060121
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE                                LENGTH: Short


BANK RESTORES HEIRESS'S MISSING MILLIONS

Piedmont Trust Bank said Thursday it has restored money missing from an elderly textile heiress's account, an amount previously calculated at $5.5 million.

Lucy Pannill Sale ``is completely satisfied,'' her attorney, Ben Gardner, said.

Sale is the daughter of Pannill Knitting Co. founder William Letcher Pannill and widow of E.A. ``Mike'' Sale, the first president of Sale Knitting Co. Sale's sweatshirt operation, started in 1937 by his father-in-law, grew and became Tultex Corp. in 1976.

According to the terms of the agreement, neither Sale's representatives nor the bank would reveal the amount restored to the trust department account.

However, Piedmont earlier announced that it would seek a $5.5 million payment from its insurers because of the missing money, and had set aside $1.3 million to cover the deductible portion of its insurance claim.

The issue of whether or how much the insurance companies will pay has not been resolved.

In a 1993 search warrant affidavit, a FBI special agent reported former Piedmont trust officer Susan Stone was under investigation in the missing funds. No charges have been filed.

The settlement ``is expected to include proceeds of the insurance claims and certain identifiable assets'' in the former trust department employee's possession, the bank's holding company, Piedmont BankGroup Inc., told the Securities and Exchange Commission.



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