Alabama One's loan fraud problems predate the 2013 indictment of Danny Ray Butler, according to Alabama One's former BSA Compliance Officer, Lorraine Ramos-Baird.

Ramos-Baird said in a November 2013 sworn affadavit she involuntarily resigned from the credit union on March 25, 2013, after concluding that the credit union's leadership was so hostile to her work as compliance officer that she had no choice but to leave.

“As a result of the continuous conflict … and following the statements made to me by Mr. [then Alabama One Board Chairman William] Roberts speaking on behalf of [Alabama One in-house counsel Paul Toppins and [Alabama One CEO ] John Dee Carruth, I became so agitated and upset about not being able to properly do my job that I finally decided my best and only option was to resign my employment at Alabama One,” Baird testified in a sworn deposition supporting her complaint.

Baird filed suit to counter Alabama One's suit. She lost that round, but her lawyer said she plans appeal.

“I did this involuntarily, [italics in original] and simply because the workplace environment became so hostile and negative that I really did not want to work there anymore,” she added.

Ramos-Baird declined an interview request to discuss her experience at Alabama One.

Ramos-Baird made the complaint against the cooperative after Alabama One sued her, charging she violated a confidentiality agreement she signed when she left the credit union by talking to lawyers representing Alabama One members who sued the credit union. Those members alleged the cooperative defrauded them to help further a loan scheme centered on Danny Ray Butler.

Butler, a long-time Alabama One member, used car dealer and sometime real estate developer, went to prison in September 2014 after pleading guilty to defrauding the U.S. Small Business Administration through a business loan made by West Alabama Bank and Trust and check kiting between accounts at West Alabama and Alabama One.

Read more: Rendezvous with member revealed in court…

“Lori Baird is a disgruntled former employee who abruptly quit her job when she learned that the credit union had discovered she had not disclosed a conflict of interest that she had,” charged Carruth in an email response about the case.

Carruth further charged that Ramos-Baird's alleged conflict of interest arose from an intimate relationship she had with Sam Colburn, an Alabama One member who had sued the credit union over the alleged theft of $22,500 from a HELOC that he and his wife had set up to pay part of their son's college tuition.

In court documents, Ramos-Baird denied having a relationship with Colburn, but acknowledged discussing having sex with him which was never consummated. In other legal documents, Sam Colburn testified under oath that Ramos-Baird had taken a hotel room near the credit union and texted him to join her there. When he did, Colburn testified that he became nervous and left.

Carruth also pointed out that the circuit court had ruled against Ramos-Baird in her counterclaims regarding the confidentiality agreement. Ramos-Baird's attorney, Justice D Smyth of the Tuscaloosa firm of Lewis Smyth Winter Ford LLC, acknowledged the decision but said Ramos-Baird is appealing the ruling.

In her sworn affidavit, Ramos-Baird testified that she became the BSA Compliance Officer at Alabama One after the 2009 merger between Alabama One and the then $39.8 million Alabama 1^st Capital Credit Union. Alabama One executives decided to keep her on after the merger in the same position she had held at Alabama 1^st Capital, but despite their assurances she would have the same authority to do her job at Alabama One that she had had at 1^st Capital, she testified that she soon felt the executives viewed her work as a nuisance.

Concerned about her duties for Alabama One, Ramos-Baird testified that she eventually formally requested a copy of her job description from the cooperative, but was advised by Alabama One executives that the credit union did not provide job descriptions to employees.

Ramos-Baird alleged in her testimony that she gradually became aware of exceptions to existing operating practices and procedures, and she routinely informed CEO John Dee Carruth, COO Martie Patton, former Chairman Bill Roberts and members of the Supervisory Committee of the exceptions.

She testified that Alabama One officials promised to take corrective actions that was never fulfilled or told her that things were under control and that she was worrying too much.

“Over time, it was made clear to me by Mr. Carruth, Mr. Roberts, Ms. Patton and Tammy Ewing that I was creating problems for the credit union and that I should simply become, in effect, less interested in doing my job as BSA compliance officer,” Baird testified.

Exceptions Baird testified she brought up to management included large amounts of money Alabama One loaned one member in excess of the amount NCUA regulations allowed. She also testified she noticed the strong possibility of check kiting and the propensity of a member to obtain straw loans by using the collateral of other members who obtained the loans and then extended credit to the member.

“I became very concerned about this situation after learning that the problem member was obtaining substantial loan proceeds without adequate or proper loan documentation,” Ramos-Baird testified. “In some cases, on collateral that was either not his own or which was not properly secured in favor of Alabama One,” she added.

Read more: Alabama One exec's relative lived rent free …

Ramos-Baird also noted the credit union made a loan of $2 million to an Alabama LLC. The borrower never made independent, out-of-pocket payments, but she alleged the credit union permitted the member to refinance the loan and borrow more funds to make payments.

Ramos Baird also alleged in testimony that upon investigating the situation further, she discovered Carruth and Patton and the credit union's board had allowed the member to reside in one of the spec homes that it had built with the loan proceeds, free of charge, for six or seven years. Ramos-Baird also testified that she later discovered the member was related to COO Martie Patton.

When Ramos-Baird reported the situation to the board, she learned a workout of the loan permitted family members to acquire and guarantee a mortgage for the member.

Patton had not returned an interview request as of press time.

Ramos-Baird also testified she discovered a couple related to then chairman Bill Roberts had been granted a member business loan of $1.5 million at well below market interest rates. Additionally, she said members with histories of overdrafts and delinquent existing loans, who were also friends with credit union management, were granted additional unsecured loans; and, that an Alabama One branch manager made loans to family members that resulted in losses to the credit union.

She felt her situation became more serious in November 2012, Ramos-Baird alleged in testimony, when she questioned what she considered a sham boat loan to Butler. This drew a visit to her office from Roberts, she said, who demanded she shred and dispose of the documents related to the Butler loan deal.

Ramos-Baird refused and testified the credit union's supervisory committee backed her up, but nonetheless she felt her position at Alabama One was untenable.

“There is no doubt in my mind, whatsoever, that I personally witnessed a calculated and intentional campaign of workplace harassment and intimidation designed to ultimately force me to leave my job as the BSA compliance officer,” Ramos-Baird concluded her testimony.

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