COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.–A former employee of a credit union here has pleaded guilty to an embezzlement scheme that netted her $170,000, which is more than twice the amount of money police initially suspected had been stolen.
Rhoda K. Pohina, 39, who formerly worked for Harrison School District 2 Credit Union, could face two to six years in prison at a sentencing Oct. 4, though she is also eligible for probation and work release, according to the Gazette.
Under a plea agreement that dropped one of the two felony theft counts against her, Pohina admitted to abusing her access to the books while serving as assistant manager at the Harrison School District 2 Credit Union, “directing secret cash advances into her account and arranging to have her credit card debts erased using credit union funds,” the Gazette reported.
The thefts occurred between December 2008 and June 2014, according to prosecutor Carissa Cruson.
The credit union is operated independently from the school district, though it offers services to the district's students and employees.
The Gazette further reported that at the time of Pohina's arrest, in June 2016, she worked in the communications office at Harrison School District 2. She was fired Oct. 27, the day after a story about her charges appeared in The Gazette, the publication reported, with school officials saying she violated policy when she went four months without notifying her supervisors that she had been arrested on suspicion of a felony.
Although police initially estimated her thefts at roughly $80,000, a continuing investigation found that she ran up a tab of $173,514, according to Cruson.
Prosecutors said Pohina manipulated financial records using a home computer that gave her access to the credit union's databases but did not track her activities.