ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- NCUA Inspector General William A. DeSarno announced that retired NCUA Region I Examiner Ray Lindeman Jr. pleaded guilty to unauthorized access of a government computer.
Lindeman, who was elected president of the NCUA Chapter of the National Treasury Employees Union in 2004, retired in 2005 and went to work at Charter Oak Federal Credit Union. According to NCUA, Lindeman admitted using his Charter Oak computer to illegally access confidential data from NCUA for the purpose of working on projects that the credit union and its CUSO billed to other credit unions. Charter Oak FCU CEO Larry K. Hertell said Lindeman had stopped working for the credit union a couple of months ago--he previously served as risk management controller--and had been there less than a year when NCUA began its investigation, instituting a gag order on the credit union employees with which the agency talked. Hertell said the only thing the agency told him was that Lindeman had been hacking into computer systems. "They have never told us anything about what he did," Hertell said.
NCUA said it has fixed the vulnerability that allowed Lindeman access and that none of the information accessed was personal member information or would compromise the safety and soundness of any credit union.
Sentencing has been set for February 2007 at which time Lindeman could receive up to five years in prison. Special agents in NCUA's Office of the Inspector General and the FBI investigated the case. --scooke@cutimes.com
