PHOENIX – The former president of Marian Miami FCU last week was sentenced to 51 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution for stealing $860,000 from the one-time $10 million credit union.
Marlene Pena, 47, who ran the church-based credit union from 2000 until its 2006 demise, admitted she created 141 phony loans totaling $2.2 million and issued the funds to family members and friends that resulted in an embezzlement of $860,307 to the credit union, which was shuttered by NCUA in the fall of 2006. NCUA estimates the loss was almost $1.2 million, $1 million of which was paid by CUMIS Insurance Society.
Under the restitution order Pena would pay CUMIS $1 million and NCUA $197,158.
Pena was hired by the credit union, based in Miami, Ariz., in 1994 and was promoted to manager in 2000. The credit union was chartered in 1955 to serve Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Miami, Ariz.
