NORWOOD, Mass. – A former middle school vice principal and manager of Norwood School Employees FCU on Friday pleaded guilty to stealing $308,000 from the credit union, which never had more than $800,000 in assets.
Stephen Shinnick, 65, was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison after he told the judge he stole the funds to feed a gambling habit. As part of his sentence, Shinnick must pay restitution to the credit union and continue with treatment for his gambling addiction once his probation begins.
At the time, Shinnick was vice principal at Coakley Middle School, where the credit union was housed.
While serving as manager/treasurer of the credit union, Shinnick wrote checks totaling $13,000 to his children, $130,402 to himself and used an additional $164,516 to pay his personal bills, using other people’s money, according to court records. Shinnick also issued several checks to members of the credit union that he did not record. The members denied ever receiving the money, according to records.
The theft amounted to more than half of the assets of the tiny credit union, which was merged into nearby Rockland FCU in June 2009. The tiny credit union had about 250 employees of the Norwood school system as active members.
