Police Investigate Former Navy Federal Employee's Alleged Fraud Scheme

Georgia police are investigating a fraud case that has led to the arrest of a former Navy Federal Credit Union member services representative who allegedly stole more than $800,000.

But police indicated there will be many other arrests of coconspirators.

Last month, investigators with the Columbus Police Department’s property and financial crimes unit arrested Steven Verrett, who worked at a Navy Federal Columbus branch. On May 28, he was initially charged with 15 felony charges of forgery, ID fraud, theft and computer crimes. On Monday, CPD said Verrett was also charged with 14 additional criminal charges of theft, forgery and ID fraud.

“This arrest is the tip of the iceberg,” CPD Sgt. Jane Edenfield told WTVM in Columbus. “There will be multiple arrests warrants for multiple people per those eight of nine accounts. There’s going to be 15 arrest warrants per account.”

The police investigation began in February.

“Navy Federal Credit Union detected this activity and immediately referred it to law enforcement. We will continue to work closely with those agencies as they conduct a thorough investigation of this situation,” a Navy Federal spokesperson said Wednesday.

Verrett allegedly used member accounts as a cover to deposit counterfeit checks, and opened fraudulent vehicle loans and funneled the funds to himself and several other co-conspirators.

The initial five checks, which were reported stolen from the U.S. mail, amounted to more than $800,000, according to CPD.

“With the assistance of NFCU internal investigators, our detectives identified at least eight NFCU accounts that are involved in the fraudulent activities,” CPD said.

Verrett had been working at Navy Federal since 2017, according to his LinkedIn page.