When a California credit union teller began stealing money in 2009, she knew it was wrong but she couldn’t stop. By the time her fraudulent scheme was exposed in 2015, the teller pilfered more than $410,000 from senior citizens, including a few who had dementia.
For her embezzlement and filing a false income tax return, Allison M. Bushart, a former teller for the $5.4 billion Patelco Credit Union in Pleasanton, Calif., was sentenced March 29 to two years and seven months in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Richard Seborg in San Francisco.
According to court documents, Bushart stole money from 23 members who were senior citizens, who ranged in age from 66 to 92, and one account holder was a minor.
“A few victim accountholders had dementia or were otherwise unable to manage their affairs,” federal prosecutors wrote in a court memo. “Some have since died. Except for M.S. (member), the victim who initially denied that the identified transactions were unauthorized, Patelco has since reimbursed all of the victims in the total amount of $396,000.”
The credit union is expected to reimburse M.S., which could be more than $17,500.
In court documents, Bushart said she noticed that the members she victimized didn’t look at their accounts, so she tested the waters. At first, she stole small amounts of money to pay for groceries and then larger amounts to pay bills. The former teller said she began taking money because her husband’s income varied.
Filled with guilt and shame, Bushart said she would resolve to stop but would steal again once a bill came due, according to court documents.
“I just kept doing [it] and it snowballed on me,” she said.
After she closed a member’s CD, Bushart realized the theft was no longer to help pay the bills and she used the stolen funds to buy large items and pay for a vacation, according to court records.
Bushart’s theft was uncovered in early 2015 when a 66-year-old member reported an unauthorized transaction on her account. Patelco’s preliminary investigation found Bushart had performed that transaction and placed her on suspension. The credit union launched an internal investigation.
By Jan. 28, 2015, Patelco’s review of video surveillance footage showed that Bushart had conducted several transactions without the accountholder being present and in which the member’s signatures appeared to have been forged. Soon after that internal investigation, Bushart was terminated.
Patelco also hired an outside firm to conduct a forensic audit, which confirmed the findings of the credit union’s internal investigation.
In addition to the embezzlement charge, Bushart admitted that she never declared as income any of the funds she stole and failed to report $105,000 in income for tax year 2014, which resulted in a tax loss of $24,469 for the IRS.
Bushart was also ordered to three years of supervised release after serving her prison sentence. A May hearing is scheduled to determine restitution.
