Ex-Teller Confesses To $305,000 CashTheft

WICHITA FALLS, Texas - (11/09/05) -- A former teller at Wichita FallsTeachers FCU pleaded guilty to taking more than $305,000 from thecredit union's vaults in a multi-year scheme, authorities announcedTuesday. Amy Henry Berend pleaded guilty to a single count ofmisapplication of credit union funds and faces up to 30 years inprison when she is sentenced. The management of the credit uniondiscovered a discrepancy in the amount of vault cash on Aug. 17,and an internal audit verified the shortage. An independent auditconfirmed the cash shortage. Berend concealed the vault cashshortage by falsifying credit union documents to overstate theamount of funds in the cash dispenser, by posting cash transactionslate to make the shortage in the vault appear less than the actualshortage, and by indicating that funds had been transferred to anATM, court records show.