A former teller has been charged in a $480,000 embezzlementconspiracy that allegedly contributed to the collapse of the $23.6million Taupa Lithuanian Credit Union in July, federal prosecutors inCleveland said Wednesday.

Michael Ruksenas, 33, of Naples, Fla., was charged with onecount of conspiracy to commit theft or embezzlement from a creditunion, according to a joint statement released Wednesday by U.S.Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steven M. Dettelbach andFBI Special Agent in Charge Stephen D. Anthony, both inCleveland.

“This defendant is part of a group that took advantage of thetrust of hundreds of people for their own personal gain,”Dettelbach said.

From 2007 through this year, Ruksenas, Alex Spirikaitis, the former president/CEO of Taupa LithuanianCU, and others allegedly engaged in a conspiracy to committheft or embezzlement from the credit union, according to federalauthorities.

Spirikaitis had been a fugitive since July until he was nabbedby federal agents while walking on a sidewalk on Cleveland's eastside on Oct. 21. He has been charged with making false statementsabout the credit union's finances and is in federal custody.

Court documents revealed that more than $10 million may havebeen embezzled from the credit union, which would make it one ofthe largest fraud cases in credit union history.

Because Spirikaitis waived his right to a preliminary hearing onOct. 22 in U.S. District Court in Cleveland, his case was boundover to the federal grand jury for an indictment. The grand juryhas a Dec. 20 deadline to return an indictment againsthim.

While Ruksenas worked as a teller from 1999 through 2006 at thecooperative, Spirikaitis routinely reviewed the daily share draftreport. He circled the names of certain members listed on thereport with NSF checks and instructed Ruksenas to pay the NSFchecks Spirikaitis had circled, federal prosecutors allege.

After Ruksenas learned Spirikaitis honored overdrafts fromcertain accounts, he withdrew funds from his two accounts.Spirikaitis then transferred funds from Taupa directly intoRuksenas' personal accounts to cover Ruksenas' overdrafts, federalauthorities said in a prepared statement.

In their statement, however, federal authorities indicatedSpirikaitis has not been charged with any criminal offense relatedto the Ruksenas charge.

What's more, Ruksenas worked as a home health aide for one ofSpirikaitis' relatives from 2007 through 2009. During that time,Spirikaitis allegedly used credit union funds to purchase Ruksenasa Jeep Cherokee, according to federal authorities.

“Michael Ruksenas is accused of being a willful beneficiary of afinancial scam being committed on members of the Taupa LithuanianCredit Union,” Anthony said. “The FBI will continue efforts to seethat fraudsters such as Mr. Ruksenas are brought to justice.”

On Monday, U.S District Court Judge John R. Adams in Akron, Ohioapproved a final forfeiture order that allows the federalgovernment to sell a million-dollar home built by Spirikaitis. Funds from the saleof the home will be distributed to NCUA.

Federal authorities suspect the house was built with moneyembezzled from the credit union as Spirikaitis was earning only$50,000 annually, according to court papers.

An FBI investigation found that Spirikaitis received a December2011 bank statement that showed a total of $559,468 in Taupa'saccounts at the $4.5 billion Corporate One Federal Credit Union inColumbus, Ohio.

However, Spirikaitis reported on the credit union's December2011 NCUA Call Report $16,165,288 in assets at the corporate creditunion. The affidavit also revealed Spirikaitis allegedly alteredand modified Corporate One FCU bank account statements forexaminers.

“He printed out numbers he wanted to report to auditors and (to)NCUA and taped them over the real numbers from the true CorporateOne bank account statement,” the affidavit stated. “Spirikaitisthen photocopied the altered documents resulting in a document thatmimicked the appearance of a statement coming directly fromCorporate One.”

Court documents also revealed that NCUA authorities discovered10,000 rounds of ammunition and multiple semi-automatic weaponsin the credit union's storage room in July when they seized theinstitution.

What remains a mystery is why Spirikaitis kept these weapons andammunition in the credit union. Federal prosecutors and the FBIdeclined to comment on Spirikaitis' intent.