A former CEO of a Pennsylvania credit union was sentenced to twoyears in prison Friday for embezzling more than $740,000.

U.S. District Court Judge Davie S. Cerione also ordered Karen Schenck, 50, of Bear Lake, Pa., to pay$696,273 in restitution and served five years of supervised releaseafter her imprisonment.

In a letter to Judge Cerione, Schenck wrote she acceptedresponsibility for her embezzlement and apologized. She also wrotethat she was ashamed and remorseful for her actions.

“When the loans first started I was having financialdifficulties and took the loans out with full intent of repayingthem,” Schenck wrote. “Then it got out of control and spiraled. Allloans were on the books and regular monthly payments were beingmade until August 2015.”

However, prosecutors said while Schenck worked as the CEO of the$4.6 million Corry Area Schools Federal Credit Union, she embezzledfunds in a variety of ways and concealed her theft from January2008 to August 2015.

For example, she made $268,402 in unauthorized or fictitiousloans in the names of her family members and concealed out ofbalance conditions in various general ledger accounts. Schenck also made more than 60 fictitious deposits into herown account or the accounts of family members totalingapproximately $317,897.

In addition, Schenck withdrew $51,035 and $44,572 from twoaccounts without the authorization of members and created $42,118in loans to herself and fabricated loan underwriting documentationto give the appearance that she would have qualified for theloans.

The former CEO also used the embezzled credit union fundsto pay off personal credit card balances and engaged inunauthorized credit card limits that led to more than $17.338 inlosses to the credit union, according to federal prosecutors.

An annual NCUA audit uncovered the embezzlement in July2015.

By December 2015, Corry Area Schools FCU posted a net worth0.78%, an ROAA of -14.66%, and a net income loss of $672,761,according to NCUA financial performance reports.

At the end of 2016, however, the credit union recorded a networth of 10.55% with an ROAA of 9.92% and a net income gain of$437,111.