Union National Bank

Police have few leads in Friday's robbery of Union National Bank in Westminster, in which a man walked away with an undisclosed amount of money.Westminster police said no one was injured in the 4 p.m. robbery at West Main Street and Pennsylvania Avenue.The man handed a teller a note demanding money. He displayed no weapon, police said.Witnesses described the robber as white, about 25 years old and 5 feet 8 inches tall. He had dark wavy hair and wore a baseball cap, sunglasses, a black T-shirt, khaki shorts, white socks and white tennis shoes, police said.

An armed man robbed First Union National Bank in Jessup yesterday of an undisclosed amount of cash, Howard County police said. The robber - described as a black man, about 5 feet 10 and weighing 170 to 180 pounds and wearing a straw hat, sunglasses, khaki pants, tie and sports coat - entered the bank in the 8600 block of Washington Blvd. about 8:15 a.m. He approached two employees with what police believe was a stun gun and demanded money, police said. After he received the cash, the man fled north on Washington Boulevard on foot, police said.

Union National Bank in Westminster will become one of a handful of Maryland banks headed by a woman when a former executive of the Bank of Baltimore and Signet Bank takes over as president later this year.Virginia W. Smith has been named to succeed Joseph H. Beaver Jr., who will retire in December after 24 years as Union National's president.Ms. Smith, 45, of Stevenson, will be one of four women who are bank presidents in the state, said Kenneth R. Smith, director of communications for the Maryland Bankers Association.

A $276 million judgment against First Union National Bank will not hurt the company financially and is likely to be significantly reduced or even thrown out completely on appeal, legal and industry experts said yesterday. A Baltimore jury, in one of the largest legal judgments in Maryland history, awarded the money Tuesday to Scott Steele, a Catonsville man who accused the bank of using ideas from his software company to start a $2.4 billion business venture. "I don't think it will impact the stock that much," said Tom Burnett, an analyst with Merger Insight, an affiliate of the New York brokerage firm Wall Street Access Inc. "You have to be patient because, historically, there are very often reductions or reversals on appeal."

Virginia W. Smith, retired chief executive officer and president of Union National Bank in Westminster, died Sunday of cancer at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 51 and lived in Stevenson. Miss Smith, who was known as Jenny, headed the Carroll County bank for five years until retiring last year because of failing health. The bank, which has been a Westminster institution since its founding in 1816, is 21 years older than Carroll County. When appointed president of Union National in 1995, she was one of four women in the state to lead a bank.

A Carroll County jury has convicted a former Union National PTC Bank head teller of stealing $10,000 from the account of a bank customer in June 1993.Shirley Gail Cutlip, who worked at Union National Bank's 140 Village branch until two years ago, was convicted of felony theft late Thursday night after the jury deliberated 9 1/2 hours.Jurors decided that the 30-year-old Cutlip, who lives on Meadow Lane in Manchester, had prepared false bank documents and stolen the money from the account of Carrie C. Rimbey, a bank customer now in her 80s.This is the second time a Carroll County jury has considered charges against Cutlip.

McIntyre hired as Union Bank VPUnion National Bank has hired Michael A. McIntyre of Westminster as a commercial lender and vice president.He has 21 years' experience in banking at NationsBank.In his new capacity, he will work and develop business in the Owings Mills, Pikesville and Reisterstown areas.

Union National Bank has announced the appointment of Julie Franz to the position of Human Resources manager.A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, Franz earned a masters of education degree from Boston University with a special emphasis in human resource education/human services.A member of the Society for Human Resource Management, she has lived, worked and studied in Europe and the Middle East for six years.Franz also can speak several languages.Prior to joining Union National Bank, Franz was personnel manager at Eastern Standard -- a national window covering products company in Baltimore.

People in the newsGeorge W. Peck has been appointed an assistant vice president of Taneytown Bank. A graduate of Western Maryland College, he is a commercial loan officer for real estate.Margaret A. Miller of Miller's Food Market in Manchester has been named to the Hampstead Advisory Board of Union National Bank. Gregory C. Maier of CMC Computers, Melvin L. Anderson of PowRmatic Inc. and builder Robert L. Moser, all of Finksburg, have been named to the bank's advisory board for Finksburg.

Maureen Stewart returns to Sylvan Learning CenterSylvan Learning Center in Westminster welcomes back Maureen Stewart in the newly created position of associate director of education.Stewart previously taught at Sylvan Learning Center and in a private middle school as a language arts teacher. As associate director, she will provide supplemental education programs in reading, math, writing and other skills for students from kindergarten through adult.She earned her bachelor's degree in elementary education from Kansas State University and is certified to teach kindergarten through eighth grade.

A Baltimore jury awarded one of the largest legal judgments in Maryland history - $276 million - to a Catonsville businessman yesterday who said First Union National Bank defrauded his software company and started a $2.4 billion business venture with his ideas. The award in Baltimore Circuit Court followed a six-week trial in which lawyers successfully argued that First Union, now Wachovia Corp. and the nation's fourth-largest banking company, double-crossed the software company owner, Scott Steele.

Virginia W. Smith, retired chief executive officer and president of Union National Bank in Westminster, died Sunday of cancer at the Gilchrist Center for Hospice Care in Towson. She was 51 and lived in Stevenson. Miss Smith, who was known as Jenny, headed the Carroll County bank for five years until retiring last year because of failing health. The bank, which has been a Westminster institution since its founding in 1816, is 21 years older than Carroll County. When appointed president of Union National in 1995, she was one of four women in the state to lead a bank.

Struggling First Union Corp. will buy out Wachovia Corp. in a $13 billion deal that is not expected to have a major negative impact on the Baltimore region, the companies announced yesterday. In what is being billed as a merger of equals, Charlotte, N.C.-based First Union is exchanging two of its shares for each share of Wachovia stock. The new company will take the Wachovia name, and will be the fourth-largest bank in the nation once the deal is completed in the third quarter of this year.

FOR YEARS, it was known as the Temple of Thrift. Now, it's the temple without a tenant. The vacant Bank of Baltimore building at 1 E. Baltimore St., a two-story structure whose design was inspired by a temple in Athens, Greece, has been put up for lease through Colliers Pinkard of Baltimore. An adjacent office building at 7 E. Baltimore St. has been listed for sale for $2 million. Last occupied by First Union National Bank, the buildings are the latest of several prime properties in the Baltimore area to become vacant as a result of consolidations in the local banking industry and changes in the real estate market.

State police are searching for a man who claimed to have a bomb when he robbed Union National Bank in Mount Airy on Tuesday afternoon. A man entered the bank in the 400 block of E. Ridgeville Blvd. about 1:45 p.m. and waited for other customers to leave before giving a teller a note demanding the money, state police said. He escaped on foot with an undisclosed amount of money, police said. The man was described as a thin, white, about 25 to 30 years old and about 5 feet 4 inches tall.

Mercantile Bankshares Corp. said yesterday that it completed its acquisition of Union National Bancorp of Westminster in a transaction valued at about $70 million. The Baltimore-based Mercantile, which is the largest independently owned banking company in the state with $8 billion in assets, merged Union National Bank into Westminster Bank and Trust Co., a Mercantile affiliate. The deal gives Mercantile more muscle in the fast-growing Carroll County market, adding 10 branches and $310 million in assets.

Carroll County public schools officials plan more random drug searches of cars, lockers and gymnasiums, with aid from the sheriff's newest police dog, authorities said yesterday.Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said Kurt, a 2-year-old German shepherd trained to sniff out narcotics, will begin routine patrol next month with Deputy 1st Class Jay Prise, the dog's handler.Purchased from Europe with about $4,000 donated by Union National Bank of Westminster, the dog will be available anytime school officials need more resources to help monitor their buildings and parking lots, Tregoning said.

R. Neal Hoffman elected to boards of banksWilliam B. Dulaney, chairman of the board, Mason-Dixon Bancshares, announced that R. Neal Hoffman has been elected to the boards of Mason-Dixon Bancshares and its major subsidiary, Carroll County Bank and Trust Co.Mr. Hoffman, a native of Westminster, is managing partner with the law firm of Hoffman, Comfort, Galloway and Offutt. He completed his undergraduate degree at Western Maryland College and received a Jurist Doctorate at the University of Baltimore School of Law. He is a member of the American, Maryland and Carroll County bar associations.

The former head teller of a Pikesville bank was charged yesterday with embezzling more than $1 million by creating "phantom" transactions so that she could walk out of the vault with bundles of cash, FBI agents said. Marian D. Turner, 37, who had worked at First Union National Bank for 12 years and was its vault custodian, is believed to have spent some of the money on a new $445,000 Woodstock house and a Mercedes-Benz. Investigators are trying to determine what happened to the rest of the cash.

Carroll County public schools officials plan more random drug searches of cars, lockers and gymnasiums, with aid from the sheriff's newest police dog, authorities said yesterday.Sheriff Kenneth L. Tregoning said Kurt, a 2-year-old German shepherd trained to sniff out narcotics, will begin routine patrol next month with Deputy 1st Class Jay Prise, the dog's handler.Purchased from Europe with about $4,000 donated by Union National Bank of Westminster, the dog will be available anytime school officials need more resources to help monitor their buildings and parking lots, Tregoning said.