AMARILLO, Texas A former loan officer at Pampa Teachers FCU last week was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay restitution for a fraud that drained more than $442,000 from the credit union.
Erin Trevathan, 26, who worked as a loan officer at the credit union from 2008 to 2010, was the sole loan officer at the credit union processing personal and auto loans.
Trevathan confessed to making false entries and stealing cash from the credit union’s main account for her personal use. The credit union’s losses totaled $422,973, according to a plea agreement.
An audit of the credit union’s books uncovered some financial irregularities and investigators discovered Trevathan was changing loan due dates on credit union members’ accounts, court records show. Auditors determined Trevathan also posted checks from members’ accounts and reversed the checks in the credit union’s system once they cleared. Trevathan also prepared loans that members had no knowledge of and had not applied for, according to Trevathan’s plea agreement.
Other loans she prepared contained no accompanying documentation or signatures on the loan agreements. A credit union member told an investigator that she had given Trevathan monthly cash payments for a loan and learned Trevathan did not always apply the payments to the loan, the plea agreement said.
Trevathan also forged the name of the credit union manager on some loan approvals to make the loans appear legitimate.
