‘Shopaholic’ Branch Manager Banned From CUs

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Betty Jean Barachie, the former branch manager for defunct Nor-Car FCU, who pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1.5 million to finance her compulsive shopping habit, was barred yesterday from the credit union industry, NCUA announced. Barachie, one of two top Nor-Car officials convicted of looting the failed Easton, Pa., credit union, told authorities she used the funds to buy hundreds of pairs of shoes, some 3,000 books, 58 coats, 16 chainsaws and a John Deere Tractor. Most of the items she bought sat piled in her house unused with the price tags still on them. Last month, Michael Symons, former president of Nor-Car, pleaded guilty to stealing almost $1.8 million from the credit union. Also banned by NCUA yesterday were: Catherine Couch, former credit card coordinator for West-AirComm FCU, Beaver, Pa., for stealing $35,000; Twyla Davis, former manager of Winston-Salem Police CU, Winston-Salem, N.C.; Latifa Joseph, former loan officer at Louisiana Association of Educators FCU, New Orleans; and James Straley, former treasurer/manager of Blackhawk FCU, Beaver Falls, Pa.