Former Lifeway Credit Union Executive Faces Sentencing in May for Embezzlement

A former executive will be sentenced in May after admitting she embezzled more than $240,000 from a Tennessee credit union by taking cash from the vault, siphoning funds from a deceased employee’s account and opening lines of credit in the names of family members only to pocket the money for her use, according to a plea deal document.

Monica Jackson, 42, of Murfreesboro, Tenn., who was the operations and marketing director for the $47 million Lifeway Credit Union in Nashville, pleaded guilty to one count of embezzlement in U.S. District Court in Nashville last month.

Jackson, who joined the credit union in 2006, began stealing from the credit union in October 2016. The theft continued through Feb. 1, 2021.

According to a plea deal with prosecutors, the former executive admitted she stole $47,409 in cash from the credit union’s vault. She concealed the theft by placing small bills, such as $1 bills, in bands of larger bills such as $20 or $50 bills to make it appear as though each band of larger bills was full.

Jackson made transfers to herself out of an account in the name of J.A. and S.B.

J.A. was a former Lifeway employee who passed away in 2016. S.B. was J.A.’s son. Following the employee’s death, however, J.A.’s account continued to receive pension payments. Prosecutors said between May 2018 and December 2020, Jackson transferred $27,435 to herself without S.B.’s knowledge or permission. She concealed the embezzlement by inputting false and misleading information about the transfers, by shifting the money to accounts in the names of her family members, or by withdrawing cash, which did not reflect where the funds were going. In addition, Jackson restricted access to J.A.’s account so that other Lifeway employees could not access those accounts, according to the plea deal.

The former credit union executive also admitted that she opened lines of credit in some of her family members’ names and increased the maximum lines of credit on those accounts, without obtaining the necessary authorization and approvals from Lifeway. Jackson then took advances against those lines of credit and transferred $167,312 to her personal account or to an account she controlled. To cover up the embezzlement, Jackson used the master administration access code to “lock” one of the accounts she was using so that other credit union employees could not see it, according to the plea deal.

Prosecutors did not say how Jackson spent the credit union’s money.