Former Credit Union IT Manager Arrested on Multiple Felony Charges
Authorities charged James Michael Guest for allegedly making unauthorized purchases totaling nearly $90,000 on CU corporate cards.
James Michael Guest, a former IT manager for Magnify Credit Union, is scheduled to appear in a Florida court in March to face felony charges of grand larceny and fraud for allegedly charging nearly $90,000 in unauthorized purchases on corporate debit cards.
Guest was arrested by police last week, some 17 months after the NCUA approved the merger of the $80.2 million Magnify CU with the $26.7 billion Pentagon Federal Credit Union in McLean, Va., during the third quarter of 2019.
John Santarpia, who was president/CEO of Magnify CU in Mulberry, Fla., fired Guest, 43, of Lakeland, in July 2019 after suspecting that he used the debit credit cards to make purchases at Home Depot, Amazon and Wal-Mart for gain and not for credit union business purposes, according to police.
After obtaining the original receipts from one of the retailers, Santarpia saw that Guest allegedly submitted altered invoices and receipts. Initially, Santarpia determined Guest allegedly made $7,000 in unauthorized purchases and gave him the opportunity to pay it back through a payment plan. But Guest refused to repay the credit union.
After terminating Guest, the CEO hired a CPA firm to conduct a forensic audit and reported the alleged crime to police.
Guest allegedly used the credit union’s debit cards to buy $88,181 primarily in gift cards for hotels, restaurants, mobile phone minutes, iTunes, Uber, Apple, gas, and prepaid Visa cards, according to police. The alleged unauthorized purchases occurred in 2018 and 2019.
When questioned by police investigators, Guest denied that he made some of the purchases with the credit union’s debit cards. He also told police he could not recall where he used the debit cards and denied knowing that purchasing gift cards was unauthorized. According to police, Guest said there were “no set rules” given to him when he was issued the debit cards.
Guest was arrested on Feb. 10 by Polk County Sheriff investigators who charged him with conspiracy to commit grand theft, scheming to defraud and fraudulent use of a credit card.
He was released on bond.