"Newcomb's actions caused LFCU to be liquidated, tying up the monies of many of its members for various periods of time and a great deal of stress in dealing with the situation," federal prosecutors argued in court documents. "Further, Newcomb's actions caused Northern Piedmont (Federal Credit Union) to be put on the financial brink. Because of Northern Piedmont's losses at the hands of Newcomb, it had to terminate employees and sell a building just to remain viable."

From October 2009 to October 2011, Newcomb negotiated and entered into loan participation agreements with the $18.7 million Northern Piedmont FCU in Warrenton, Va. In these loan participation agreements, Newcomb included false loans, including three loans she put in the name of a deceased member, according to court documents.

Newcomb regularly corresponded with Northern Piedmont regarding specific payments on the false loans but spoke as if they were authentic and legitimate and that members were making payments. Those payments, however, were being made by money from other false loans, federal prosecutors said.

The value of the fraudulent loans involved in the loan participation agreements at the time of Lynrocten's liquidation was more than $1 million.

Dortha Johnson, president/CEO of Northern Piedmont FCU, declined to comment when reached through a spokesperson Thursday.

A major part of Newcomb's fraudulent scheme that began in the early 2000s, however, involved originating numerous loans in the names of members without their knowledge or consent. Payments on these fake loans were made with funds from other false loans.

Newcomb carried out this fraud with Teresa Wieringo Humphries, a former head teller who embezzled more than $1 million from the cooperative. In March, the 60-year-old Madison Heights, Va., woman was sentenced to more than three years in federal prison.

Because of this fraud, the false loan portfolio grew very large and amounted to 88% of the loans carried on the books when the LFCU was liquidated in May 2013.

Rawes' admitted to writing checks from the Lynchburg-based credit union's corporate account to make payments on her personal credit card. She began this scheme in the 1990s, according to federal prosecutors.

To cover up the use of the corporate checks, Rawes deducted funds from members' accounts. She replaced the money from CHCU's corporate account so no shortfalls appeared.

Because Rawes' theft created an increasingly large deficit in CHCU's corporate account, she began altering the corporate account statements to avoid scrutiny from state and federal regulators.

That apparently fooled the regulators for years, until they conducted a routine examination in early January, when NCUA examiners found CHCU corporate account statements had larger amounts taped over what appeared to be the actual amounts in the credit union's corporate accounts.

In another embezzlement case, Male Yahaira Rivera, a former assistant branch manager, was sentenced June 23 to 18 months in federal prison for embezzling more than $250,000 from the $1.7 billion Fairwinds Credit Union in Orlando, according to federal prosecutors.

U.S. District Court Judge G. Kendall Sharp in Orlando also ordered Rivera to pay $258,000 in restitution.

From October 5, 2010 to August 26, 2011, Rivera admitted to stealing the cash on 16 separate occasions in amounts ranging from $2,000 to $40,000.

Each of the thefts involved cash that was supposed to be deposited into an ATM or cash that was removed from an ATM. The first 11 thefts occurred at the Orlando branch and the next five thefts happened at the Casselberry branch, according to court documents.

The 35-year-old Rivera of Orlando used more than $44,000 as a partial payment for a Porsche.