Former Credit Union Manager Sentenced for $500,000 Theft
Laurie Allen steals funds from a First Illinois CU branch vault over six years.
A former credit union manager was sentenced last week to five years in state prison for stealing more than $500,000 in cash from the branch vault, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said.
Laurie Allen, 55, of Perrysville, Ind., pleaded guilty to one count of financial institution fraud. Vermilion County Circuit Court Judge Derek J. Girton also ordered the former branch manager to pay restitution of $510,000.
She was taken into custody to begin her prison sentence following a hearing on Oct. 25, the state attorney general said.
Allen began her theft in January 2014 at a branch of the $50.2 million First Illinois Credit Union in Danville, Ill.
By June 2017, First Illinois Credit Union merged into the $992 million Vibrant Credit Union in Moline, Ill. At the end of the second quarter of 2017, First Illinois recorded an income loss of $1,494,754 compared to an income gain of $72,692 in June 2016, according to NCUA financial performance reports.
Allen’s theft continued through December 2020, according to prosecutors.
She spent the stolen cash on her personal expenses. The attorney general, however, did not say how Allen concealed her theft for six years or how it was initially detected.