AMARILLO, Texas A former loan officer at Pampa Teachers FCU on Friday pleaded guilty to making false entries and loan manipulations in a scheme that stole almost $423,000 from the credit union over the two years she worked there.
Erin Trevathan was the $10-million credit union’s only loan officer. Her job consisted of processing personal and auto loans. Irregularities were noticed during an audit and it was discovered that Trevathan was changing due dates on loans on credit union members’ accounts. She also was posting checks from member accounts and then reversing the checks in the credit union’s system after they cleared.
Additionally, non-existent loans were discovered that had been prepared by Trevathan. The members named had no knowledge of these phony loans, authorities said.
Other loans Trevathan prepared that had no accompanying documentation or signatures on the loans agreements, according to court documents.
One credit union member told the investigator that she had given Trevathan cash for her loan payment on a monthly basis and later discovered that Trevathan did not always apply the payment to the loan.
On certain loan approvals, Trevathan forged the name of the manager of the credit union in order for the loan to appear as legitimate. When confronted, Trevathan admitted she had been making the false entries and admitted to stealing cash from the credit union’s main account for her personal use.
