ALLENTOWN, Penn.–A former employee at Allentown FCU has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay more than $600,000 in restitution.
Julie Ann Turk, who had worked as a teller, teller supervisor, general ledger coordinator and Master Card coordinator, at the credit union, was sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison and further ordered to pay $642,000 she admitted embezzling from members’ accounts. In addition, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Schmehl ordered Turk to serve five years of supervised release after prison. Turk pleaded guilty in March 2018 to three counts of money laundering and one count each of bank fraud and embezzlement.
According to court records, Turk defrauded Allentown Federal Credit Union and its customers out of $641,637 between January 2009 and April 2016, the Allentown Call reported.
According to authorities, Turk created fraudulent credit union fees, debited the fraudulent fees from the credit union's general ledger accounts, and credited those fees to the members’ accounts. She then transferred the money to her personal accounts. Turk also made unauthorized withdrawals from the members’ accounts and performed several wire transfers from July 11, 2014, to Feb. 9, 2016, in amounts ranging from $7,000 to $35,000, authorities said.