PENSACOLA, Fla.–A former employee of a Navy FCU branch here has been charged with stealing more than $300,000 from nearly 40 members.
According to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, when questioning a suspect in early 2023 about a 2021 scam that hurt military veterans and their families, the suspect identified Johnathan Toriana Coleman, Jr., a former employee of Navy FCU, for the fraud, which led to the arrest warrant.
According to Special Agent Matt Infinger of the FDLE, “he stated that Coleman would take money from an NFCU member’s account and place the money in an NFCU account that [the suspect] had provided to Coleman,” Local10.com reported. Coleman allegedly charged the suspect a $500 fee for each transaction.
Investigators later determined Coleman, 28, of Delray Beach, Fla. had earned about $30,000 in illegal fees, compromised 38 accounts, and had caused nearly $347,500 in fraud and about $206,450 in losses, according to an arrest warrant that an Escambia County judge issued, the report added.
Former Football Player
Local10.com reported the University of West Florida in Pensacola has a record of Coleman as having played football as a linebacker during college there and at the Village Academy in Delray Beach, Fla., where he graduated with a 3.5 GPA. He worked for the credit union after he graduated from college in 2018.
According to records cited Local10.com, Coleman worked for the Navy Federal Credit Union from July 2, 2021, to Aug. 6, 2021. The report said Chris McBrayer, a Navy Federal Credit Union investigator, had already confronted Coleman on Aug. 18, 2021, about the fraud which involved transfers from CashApp and AppleCash, according to the arrest warrant.
‘Fun Stuff’
“Coleman initially said it was from friends to help him with food and miscellaneous things ... Coleman then said he would ask people for money to travel and for fun stuff,” Infinger wrote about McBrayer’s recorded interview, Local10.com reported.
Coleman was arrested during an operation by the FDLE’s Miami center and the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office.
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