Had it not been for the actions of one Houston Police Federal Credit Union member, the credit union's retired executive might have gotten away with a $1.2 million embezzlement.
Cheryl Vickers, a former vice president of the $603 million, Houston-based credit union, pleaded guilty to one felony count of embezzlement in U.S. District Court in Houston Jan. 20. She admitted to stealing more than $1.2 million over 18 years with unclaimed checks.
After Vickers retired in 2015, a credit union member brought in a stale check – an old check that had been issued by the credit union but never cashed. Credit union records, however, showed the check had already been reissued by Vickers, according to court documents.
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That prompted the credit union to launch an audit of Vickers' banking activity, which revealed she had embezzled at least $1,247,785 since January 1997.
The credit union reviewed its ledger of stale checks, which showed Vickers reissued stale checks to credit card companies to pay her personal credit card bills.
The checks made payable to the credit card companies, some of which had Vickers' credit card number hand-written on them, were issued from an HPFCU account, according to court records.
Vickers reissued a stale check in the amount $7,800 to pay her Chase Bank credit card bill last February when she retired. She was arrested and charged with embezzlement in December. At that time, she pleaded not guilty.
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
