RCU said it discovered the fraud in 2019 and promptly reported it to police. No losses were incurred by RCU members because of the fraudulent activity, and the credit union said it further strengthened its systems and processes to prevent future incidents of this nature.

Before joining the Santa Rosa-based credit union, Simontacchi worked as a bookkeeper and assistant controller with Cavallo Point Lodge, a hotel near Sausalito, Calif., from December 2009 through April 2016, when she also embezzled $384,363, according to federal prosecutors.

At RCU, Simontacchi's responsibilities included processing voided official checks (also known as cashier's checks) and communicating with the credit union's official check vendor regarding issues pertaining to the funding and voiding of these checks. She also had access to checks intended for and made payable to RCU that were sent to the accounting department for processing, including reimbursement checks from the official check vendor and reimbursement checks from the United States Treasury Department and State of California.

According to the indictment, Simontacchi embezzled some of these checks, as well as official checks that had been returned to RCU by members and were supposed to have been voided. Instead, the former credit union employee deposited these checks into her personal bank accounts. Court documents showed Simontacchi held 12 different accounts at big banks and one account at RCU, which included a checking and HELOC account.

According to the NCUA, while working at 1st Bergen, Carolin Lopez allegedly misappropriated member funds totaling approximately $32,130 by posting fictitious check deposits to her own account and using other employees' credentials to reverse or waive fees that had been assessed on her own account.

Lopez neither admitted nor denied this allegation.

The NCUA Consent Order did not say whether she repaid the funds to the credit union.