Ex-Manager Looted College CU
MADISON, N.J.-A former operations manager at Fairleigh Dickinson University FCU pleaded guilty to embezzling $2.2 million from the $18-million credit union by opening a dozen accounts under phony names, including one in the name of his cat.
Daniel Doyle, Jr., 60, confessed to using his teller code to open accounts under several aliases, including Danny Ocean, the protagonist in the hit movie "Ocean's Eleven," Anthony Pino, and Cocoa Tin, his cat.
He was caught last year after transferring funds between the phony accounts and accounts in his own name, then making withdrawals at ATMs. Doyle was arrested in 2003 after his scheme was discovered in an audit.
Shortly after his arrest he ran into more trouble when it was discovered he was illegally keeping several exotic animals, including a lynx, two skunks, and 11 sugar gliders, a type of small marsupial, locked up in a room in a Motel 8 Raritan Borough.
Meriwest CU Introduces MBS
SAN JOSE, Calif.-Meriwest CU said it has rolled out a full menu of small business services.
That includes checking with interest, loans, savings, credit union membership for business employees, online services and merchant services-payroll and business credit cards.
The $950-million credit union plans a local advertising campaign to broadcast the new services.
USAA FCU Adopts New Persona
SAN ANTONIO, Texas-USAA FCU, which is celebrating its golden anniversary this year, announced a new name and community charter as it prepares to move into a new headquarters next month.
The $235-million credit union, chartered in 1955 to serve employees of insurer USAA, will now be known as United San Antonio Community FCU and will serve Bexar County.
The new identity comes as the credit union prepares to move into a 40,000 square-foot, three-story headquarters on the outskirts of the city.
Suspects Charged In FBI Sting
CLEVELAND-Two men and a woman, suspected in as many as 15 area robberies over the past eight months, were charged with the recent armed robbery at Shaker Community CU, the FBI said.
The three, identified as Larry Claggett, 34, Abdul-Badee Bakeer, 33, and Carlessa Smith, 22, were arrested in a sting operation by FBI agents posed as construction workers outside the credit union after the robbery, according to Robert
Hawk, special agent for the FBI.
"They robbed it, then we got them as they left the credit union," Hawk told The Credit Union Journal. The three are expected to be charged with as many as seven robberies over the next few weeks, he said.
Teachers Get Small CU Grants
LA HABRA, Calif.-South Western FCU said it has awarded 15 Teacher's Helper grants of $150 each to four local schools.
The money will help fund projects such as field trips, book purchases, computer software upgrades and travel. Grants were awarded based on how the proposed projects would enhance the educational experience for students.
Identity Theft As A Family Affair
BANNER, Calif.-A local couple was charged with stealing the identities of as many as six people, including a son and daughter, then using the I.D.s to become members at Navy FCU where they took out more than $300,000 in loans.
Johnna Kojis, 28, and her husband, Stan Kojis, 32, face as many as 20 counts of identity theft, grand theft and preparing false documents and are being held in the county jail.
The couple's finances have been frozen until authorities can determine if there are more than six victims, including one of Johnna's sons from a previous marriage and the couple's daughter.
Police believe Johnna Kojis obtained information on the victims, including Social Security numbers, while she worked as a loan officer at Allied Home Mortgage Capital Corp.
The information was allegedly used to join, then open accounts at Navy Fed, and later to obtain the loans. The couple then deposited the proceeds from the loans in numerous personal and fraudulent accounts, police said.
