A bank employee who pleaded guilty in July 2009 in a case involving $4 million in stolen certificates of deposit from four credit unions and other financial institutions is scheduled to be sentenced this month.

Guardian Angel Credit Union, Coreplus Federal Credit Union, Hamilton Federal Credit Union and East Idaho Credit Union are among the financial institutions that filed a lawsuit against MetaBank and Meta Financial Group to recover $4 million in CD funds. In July 2009, Charlene M. Pickhinke, a former MetaBank employee for 28 years, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Sioux City, Iowa, to money laundering, wire fraud, aggravated identity theft and making false statements on a bank's records, according to the United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa.

In her plea agreement, Pickhinke admitted that from 1995 to 2008 she sold more than 40 fake CDs while employed at MetaBank. She also admitted to opening two bank accounts using the names and Social Security numbers of deceased bank customers and laundering funds through the accounts. Pickhinke is scheduled to be sentenced this month.