A former KleinBank worker pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to embezzling almost $640,000 from bank accounts.

Gregory Gerald Meyer, 39, of Wayzata made the plea in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis as part of an agreement, the U.S. attorney's office said in a statement.

Meyer worked as an investment representative for the community bank chain, based in Norwood Young America. He took $639,820 from the accounts of four customers between March 2006 and October 2008 and then routed it to accounts he controlled to pay his own expenses.

The theft was discovered when one of the customers asked about a "perceived market loss," KleinBank's chairman has said in a statement. The money was returned with interest and Meyer was fired last December, the bank has said.

Meyer faces up to 30 years in prison. He will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Joan Ericksen at a later date.

VINCE TUSS