Ex-VP & Teller Sentenced for $1.1 Million Embezzlement From a Texas CU

A former vice president/supervisor of accounting and a teller/vault supervisor were sentenced Wednesday for embezzling more than $1.1 million from a Texas credit union.

U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake in Houston sentenced Susanna Guajardo, 43, to two years and nine months in prison and three years of supervised release following her prison term. The ex-vice president/supervisor of accounting for the $84.8 million Space City Credit Union in Houston was ordered to pay $1.1 million in restitution.

Judge Lake also sentenced Grace Garza, 49, an ex-teller/vault supervisor at Space City CU, to one year and nine months in prison and three years of supervised release follow her prison term. She was also ordered to pay restitution.

Guajardo of Pearland, Texas stole the credit union’s money over seven years by depositing worthless checks from other banks into her account and into the accounts of her family members, according to prosecutors.

Federal prosecutors said she purposely neglected to deduct the amount of the bounced checks when they were returned to the credit union for non-sufficient funds. Although the NSF checks were posted on SCCU’s corporate account, Guajardo, who was responsible for reconciling it, made false entries in the credit union’s books making it appear that the general ledger was in balance when in fact it was not, court documents show.

Garza of Pasadena, Texas also deposited worthless checks from other banks into her account and Guajardo’s family member accounts.

Garza was fired in March 2016 for stealing more than $100,000 from the vault, according to court documents. Federal prosecutors did not say how long Garza was taking money from the vault or how she managed to steal so much cash from the vault without being detected.