MIAMI, Ariz. – The former manager of Marian Miami FCU is scheduled to go on trial Jan. 12 for a $2.2 million loan scheme that bankrupted the one-time $10 million credit union for a local church.
Marlene Pena, 46, who ran the credit union from 2000 until its 2006 demise, is charged with creating 141 phony loans and issuing the funds to family members and friends. The phony loans would cause the credit union’s books to be out of order, prompting Pena to create more phony loans to cover her scheme, according to the court documents.
The scheme cost losses of almost $1.2 million forcing regulators to liquidate the 41-year-old credit union in the fall of 2006.
Pena was hired by the credit union in 1994 and was promoted to manager in 2000. The credit union was chartered in 1955 to serve Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Parish in Miami, Ariz.
