LYNCHBURG, Va. – A former Blue Ridge FCU branch manager on Tuesday pleaded guilty to stealing $110,977 from the credit union and to falsifying records to help out her family’s business.
Dala Nelson Freitas used her position as branch manager of Limitorque FCU, later Blue Ridge FCU, to enter deposits for $100,977 from her family’s sewer and drain cleaning business without processing the checks.
Freitas, 57, of Lynchburg, sat on 15 checks from the spring through the fall of 2002. During that time, the family business used the credit to make payroll, including payments to Freitas for bookkeeping services, court records show.
After discovering the scheme, the credit union’s board of directors opted to grant the business a nearly $180,000 loan to cover the bad checks, but the business defaulted anyway.
Court records show the business was operated by Freitas’ nephew during the 2002 period, but subsequently was taken over by Freitas’ brother-in-law in 2003 when the $180,000 loan was made. When the nephew later filed a successful legal challenge asserting ownership, he stopped making payments on the loan, “claiming he never signed the paperwork as the rightful owner.”
The credit union’s bonding company reimbursed a successor $135,428 to cover the bad debt in 2005, she said.
