Oklahoma Woman Who Stole $800,000 from Credit Unions & Banks Pleads Guilty
Pamela Conley will be sentenced in March on 24 counts of bank fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft.
Pamela Kathryn Conley, 59, of Catoosa, Okla., admitted in federal court that she stole more than $800,000 from five credit unions and five banks.
She pleaded guilty to 24 felony counts of bank fraud and four felony counts of aggravated identity theft in U.S. District Court in Tulsa last Wednesday when her jury trial was set to begin. On that day, a federal judge denied Conley’s request to fire her lawyer, which would have postponed the jury trial, court documents showed.
According to federal prosecutors, Conley forged earnings statements, which she provided to the financial institutions as proof of income and reflected that she held positions such as manager and CFO and made a salary of $200,000 or more annually at CFS2, a Tulsa-based company that helps consumers eliminate debt. Although she worked at CFS2, she was fired in 2014 and never earned more than $60,000.
What’s more, Conley’s scheme included securing some of the loans with automobiles and boats as collateral. On occasion, when loans were secured with collateral, Conley created fictitious lien releases for the collateral, using the notarized signature of unwitting financial institution employees, prosecutors said.
According to court records, Conley then caused the bogus lien releases that were filed with the Oklahoma Tax Commission, which in turn provided her with titles to the collateral free and clear of any liens. Conley would then approach new lenders to obtain loans secured by collateral she did not own.
Conley’s scheme victimized the $33.1 million First Oklahoma Federal Credit Union in Tulsa, the $698 million Oklahoma Central Credit union in Tulsa, the $264 million Red Crown Credit Union in Tulsa, the $5.6 billion Tinker Federal Credit Union in Oklahoma City and the $197 million Western Sun Federal Credit Union in Broken Arrow. She also victimized First Pryority Bank, Equity Bank, Yorktown Bank, Spirit Bank and Grand Savings Bank.
She used the $800,000 stolen funds for personal expenses such as clothing, food and lodging.
Conley’s sentencing hearing has been scheduled for March.