While a former branch manager was giving financial advice to a 91-year-old member, she allegedly stole more than $125,000 from that member’s savings account.
Claudette Retana, 66, who retired earlier this year from the $9.5 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union where she was employed for more than 33 years, pleaded not guilty to 20 felony counts of financial institution fraud in U.S. District Court in Denver Tuesday.
The nonagenarian member identified in a federal indictment as “FH” maintained a savings account and CD accounts at SSFCU’s branch in Pueblo, Colo. Starting in 2009, Retana began providing financial advice to FH even though it was not within the scope of her managerial duties, according to the indictment.
But Retana’s financial advice — status of accounts, opening and closing CD accounts and what types of CDs could bring favorable rates of return — was just a ruse to conceal her fraud, federal prosecutors allege.
For example, Retana falsely advised FH that the credit union no longer provided monthly statements by mail. FH was unaware, however, that the savings account was coded to stop the automatic mailing of statements. Whenever FH wanted to review the details of the account, Retana would show those account details on a computer screen at the branch, but that information was false, according to the indictment.
Between 2009 and July 2017, the former branch manager allegedly withdrew funds from FH’s CD accounts and deposited the money into FH’s savings account. The transfers were completed through a computer code that was allegedly keyed in by Retana. By doing this, she falsely represented to SSFCU that the member authorized these transactions, prosecutors allege.
Retana then withdrew the funds from FH’s savings account by giving tellers member transaction slips and directing them to give the cash to her. Retana allegedly told the tellers FH had authorized the cash withdrawals, but the member gave no such authorization, according to the indictment.
Federal prosecutors do not say how the fraud was discovered.
In a separate fraud case, a car dealer pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Shreveport, La. to stealing $177,000 in credit union loans for cars that did not exist.
In June and July 2015, Larry Wayne Toms Jr. told the $36.5 million Post Office Employees Federal Credit Union in Shreveport, La., that he was buying vehicles to sell at his car dealership in Bossier City.
In addition to submitting three sets of false loan documents, Toms admitted that he submitted Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections Vehicle applications to the credit union, which purported to give POEFCU a security interest in the vehicles. However, it was discovered later that the vehicles did not exist, according to court documents.
Based on these false documents, the credit union funded and disbursed $177,000 in car loans to Toms.
