NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

BETH PHILLIPS

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov../index.html

APRIL20, 2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CREDIT UNION MANAGER PLEADS GUILTY

TO EMBEZZLEMENT

            JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – Beth Phillips, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Sedalia, Mo., woman pleaded guilty in federal court today to stealing $35,000 from customers’ accounts at the credit union where she was employed.

            Sandra Ann Jeffers, 49, of Sedalia, waived her right to a grand jury and pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Nanette K. Laughrey this morning to a federal information that charges her with embezzlement by a credit union employee.

            During an annual audit of the Pittsburgh Corning Glassworkers Credit Union in Sedalia in April 2009, auditors discovered a discrepancy. Jeffers, who was a manager at the credit union, admitted that she had cut checks from various customers’ accounts, using credit union checks made out to herself, then endorsed and either deposited or cashed the fraudulent checks on her account at another credit union.

            Jeffers admitted that, between February 2008 and March 2009, she transferred money from the accounts of four different customers on 23 separate occasions, in amounts ranging from $35 to $5,000, for an aggregate loss of approximately $35,000 This loss was reimbursed to the four customers’ accounts by the National Credit Union Administration.

            Under federal statutes, Jeffers is subject to a sentence of up to 30 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $1 million and an order of restitution. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a presentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.

            This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Lynn. It was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Sedalia, Mo., Police Department.

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