EASTON, Pa. – The former president of Northampton-Carbon County FCU pleaded guilty to fraud and filing false income tax returns in the theft of $1.8 million from the now defunct credit union. Michael Symons, 66, faces up to 33 years in prison and $2 million in restitution when he is sentenced May 24. Betty Jean Barachie, the former branch manager for Nor-Car FCU, pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1.5 million to finance her compulsive shopping habit. She told authorities she used the funds to buy hundreds of pairs of shoes, some 3,000 books, 58 coats, 16 chainsaws and a John Deere Tractor. Most of the items she bought sat piled in her house unused with the price tags still on them.
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