Member Service Rep Jailed In $250,000 Loan Scheme

FRESNO, Calif. – A former member service representative at Kern Schools FCU on Tuesday was sentenced to a year behind bars for a phony loan scheme that siphoned more than $245,000 from the credit union.

From March 2003 to November 2003, Carolyn Jones, 45, embezzled more than $250,000 by opening up fraudulent lines of credit using pre-existing members’ information and diverting the money from those lines of credit into accounts she controlled, according to prosecutors.

In denying the defendant’s request for probation, Judge Anthony Ishii noted that “this is a serious offense and the message must be sent that those who steal these amounts from their employers will go to prison.”

Jones agreed to repay $245,000 as part of a plea agreement.

 

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