A Facebook firestorm erupted Tuesday after the $1 billion MaxCredit Union acknowledged it was investigating whether an employeecommented about a member's account on the popular social mediasite.

After that acknowledgement was posted on the Montgomery,Ala.-based cooperative's Facebooksite, it received more than 60 comments from members andnon-members who were troubled by the allegation, and others whocriticized or questioned the way the credit union was managing thebreach.

However, the Max CU also received positive comments frommembers, non-members and former employees vouching for thecooperative's strong and long-time community reputation, goodbusiness practices and excellent service.

The employee was placed on leave pending the results of theinvestigation under way by the Autauga County Sheriff's Departmentin Prattville, DJ Markwell, senior vice president of marketing atMax CU, said.

“We are waiting out the due process on this,” Markwell said,emphasizing that this breach incident is only an allegation. “Thereis nothing new to say other than the statement that's on ourFacebook page. I think we are going to have to let theinvestigation play out so that we can see what really is thetruth.”

Because the investigation is under way, Markwell could notdiscuss the specifics about the alleged Facebook comment made bythe employee.

However, a local TV news station, WFSA, reported Wednesday thatscreenshots of the posts allegedly made by the Max CU employee were found on a Facebook group called“Prattville-Millbrook Montgomery Black List.” The user allegedlyposted information that a couple has an account at the credit unionwith a negative balance. The posts used the hashtags, “perks of mynew job” and “I know everyone's dirt,” according to WFSA.

A Facebook search of “Prattville-Millbrook Montgomery BlackList” comes up empty, but there are at least six variations ofclosed groups with the words Prattville, Millbrook and Montgomery.Prattville and Millbrook are suburbs of Montgomery.

“That's why there is an investigation,” Markwell said. “We neverheard of them [Prattville-Millbrook Montgomery Black List] untilthis week.”

In the credit union's Facebook post about the breachinvestigation, it also noted a thread of commentary began on thecompany's Facebook page on March 13, and that MAX responded on itspage to those concerned that the matter is under investigation.

However, that commentary thread was apparently deleted by thepeople who made the March 13 posts, according to Markwell. It'sunknown why those posts were deleted.

The credit union became aware of this alleged breach on March 12by two people who informed branch employees, Markwell said.

The county sheriff's department did not return a phone call andemail Thursday seeking comments about the investigation.