Teller Scheme Targeted Elderly,Infirm

STINNETT, Texas - (04/19/05) -- Prosecutors testified last week thata former teller at Borger 66 FCU embezzled almost $180,000 bymoving funds from accounts of members who were mostly elderly orphysically inactive who were less likely to check their balances ona regular basis. The ex-teller, Sandra Porter, 44, moved as much as$1.1 million in and out of various accounts to mask her scheme,prosecutors testified during a bail hearing in state court. Some ofthe funds, about $35,000, were deposited in an account at AmarilloNational Bank for the First Church of the Nazarene, where Porter'shusband is minister, while thousands more was deposited at nearbyPantex FCU, where her daughter has an account, they said. Porter'srequest to reduce $1 million bond was denied by the judge and shewas sent back to Hutchinson County Jail after thehearing.