Former CU Employee Admits to $500,000 Embezzlement
James Roy Entzminger awaits sentencing after admitting he stole tens of thousands of dollars over four years.
A former teller pleaded guilty to embezzlement, admitting he stole more than $500,000 from the $58.9 million Banner Federal Credit Union in Phoenix.
According to a plea agreement filed in Arizona’s U.S. District Court last month, James Roy Entzminger took money from accounts held by 11 Banner FCU members.
In September 2012, he began stealing funds from a member’s IRA account because Entzminger knew the member could not use the tax-sheltered money for daily purchases, and it also meant the member did not regularly monitor the account, prosecutors wrote in court documents. The member told Entzminger he planned to leave the money untouched until he was ready to buy a new home. The former credit union employee embezzled about $270,000 from that member’s IRA account.
Prosecutors also noted in court documents that Entzminger continued to steal tens of thousands of dollars over four years from other member accounts through a combination of unauthorized transfers, forged cash withdrawal slips and forged checks.
To conceal his fraud, he posted fictitious deposits to member accounts and modified members’ account settings to change their home address to a fake home address so that members would not receive their account statements in the mail.
Entzminger stole a total of $526,999. Banner FCU reimbursed members through its private insurer and reimbursed them an additional amount for the net loss interest and dividends, according to court documents.
The credit union’s net worth is 10.76% while its ROAA is 0.14%, according to NCUA financial performance reports.
Entzminger’s sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.