GTE FCU Employee Abducted in Robbery

NEW ORLEANS-A phony police officer forced his way into the home of a GTE Federal Credit Union employee with three accomplices and brought her across town to open the safe at the branch where she worked. A man carrying what appeared to be a police badge told the 21-year-old female employee he was investigating a burglary, according to a Feb. 4 report in The Times-Picayune. When she cracked the door, he forced it open at gunpoint along with his two armed accomplices. They then held the woman’s family hostage while she was taken to the eastern New Orleans branch where she worked and forced her to empty the safe with her key. The kidnappers then dropped the woman a block from her house, picked up the third accomplice that was holding the family, and made their escape in the victim’s 2004 Toyota Camry. No one was injured, The Times-Picayune reported, and nothing was taken from the woman’s home. The amount of money taken from GTE Federal Credit Union’s safe was not disclosed. Police are still searching for the three men, ages 20 to 25, and the victim’s car that they made their getaway in. The FBI and New Orleans Police Department are jointly working the case. Charges could include aggravated burglary and kidnapping, as well as federal bank robbery and carjacking, FBI spokeswoman Sheila Thorne told The Times-Picayune. They are also looking into how the robbers knew the woman had a key to the safe.