Former California Credit Union CEO Pleads Guilty to Multiple Charges
Tina Louis Torres will be sentenced in April for stealing more than $250,000 from a Santa Paula, Calif. credit union.
A California woman will be sentenced in April for stealing more than $250,000 from a credit union while she was its president/CEO.
Tina Louise Torres, 55, of Santa Paula, pleaded guilty during a court hearing Thursday to three felony counts of grand theft, two felony counts of forging or altering documents, and three felony counts of grand theft by means of embezzlement, Ventura County Deputy District Attorney Susan Park said.
Torres was originally arraigned on 25 felony counts of grand theft and forgery last June.
Since at least 2012, Torres had been CEO of Limoneria Federal Credit Union in Santa Paula. The credit union changed its name to Valley Agricultural Federal Credit Union several years ago and currently manages $5 million in assets and serves 628 members, according to NCUA records.
From 2016 to 2019, Torres embezzled the credit union’s funds and forged documents to conceal the theft from the board of directors. Torres also served as the board’s treasurer, according to the credit union’s profile reports filed with the NCUA.
An audit detected suspicious wire transfer schemes, which allegedly enabled Torres to siphon credit union funds. She allegedly used the money to pay her personal debts, police investigators said.
The board fired Torres in August 2019.
Torres’ lawyer did not respond to a CU Times request for comment on Friday.