HOUSTON–Two former credit union execs have been found guilty of embezzlements in unrelated cases.
Cheryl Vickers, a former VP at Houston Police FCU, has been sentenced to three and a half years in federal prison for stealing more than $1.2 million from the credit union.
Vickers, 67, pleaded guilty to the crime in January.
According to authorities, the embezzlement lasted from 1997 until Vickers retired in 2015. The crime was only discovered in 2015 when a member came into the credit union with a check the CU had issued but that had never been cashed. According to authorities, records showed that Vickers had already reissued the so-called “stale” check, leading to an audit. That audit, in turn, found that Vickers reissued similar checks to pay items including her personal credit card bills.
As reported by Chron.com, Vickers stood before U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon during sentencing, and dabbed her eyes with a wad of tissues. "I'm sorry," she said. "Honest."
Harmon sentenced Vickers to serve 41 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay $1,247,785 in restitution. Following her term in prison, she must be on supervised release for three years, the judge said.
Meanwhile, in Peoria, Ill, a former CEO who said he acted only to help members, Charles Juska, who formerly led Tazewell County School Employees Credit Union, was found guilty by a jury of nearly a dozen charges related to fraud while he was with the credit union. Juska was acquitted on seven charges.
Prosecutors said Juska’s activities cost the credit union hundreds of thousands of dollars through illegal activities that took place between 2005 and 2015. The exact figure related to losses is still being investigated.
In his defense Juska had argued that he did not benefit from his actions and sought only to help members who had fallen on “hard times.”
Over the five-year period involved, Juska fraudulently issued and extended loans and covered members defaults by opening loans in other members’ names without their knowledge. He concealed delinquent loans from the credit union’s board and regulators, according to investigators
The jury found Juska guilty of five counts each of bank fraud and misapplication of credit union funds and one of false entry to credit union records. He was acquitted on two counts each of bank fraud and false record entry and three of fund misapplication.
Juska was fired in 2010 and indicted in 2014. He is expected to receive far less than the maximum 30-year sentence that could be handed down.