Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephanie Zimdahl noted in a sentencing memo to the court that the staggering loss of the credit union failed to capture the full impact of the emotional distress and hardship that Crowe's crime caused to members and the local community.

Even after Crowe was fired when her fraud was discovered by the credit union in November 2017, she took steps to conceal it by remotely accessing the credit union's data processing system, making changes to the general ledger. She also deleted significant files and information from her workplace computer. This made it harder for the NCUA to untangle Crowe's financial morass.

Moreover, Zimdahl revealed that Crowe failed to take responsibility for her crimes because of her unwillingness to fully cooperate in the financial investigation required by her plea agreement.

"Absent a desire to continue to minimize her conduct or evade restitution, the government is at a loss to explain why the defendant would continue to avoid cooperating with the required post-plea financial investigation," Zimdahl wrote.

Crowe had access to the personal information of hundreds of members and used it for her own personal gain.

"Individual victims, who number well over one hundred, have voiced the impact of defendant Crowe's crime has had on them, including upon their credit histories and ratings (and thus, in some instances), their ability to make and pursue future financial decisions," Zimdahl wrote. "As well as the sense of betrayal they feel due to carrying on their daily interaction with the defendant all the while unwise to the fact that she was potentially wreaking havoc on their financial lives."

Zimdahl did not specify what was the motive behind Crowe's embezzlement.

From January 2013 through November 2017, Crowe stole cash from the credit union's vault and teller drawers. To replenish that missing cash, she took money from the credit union's day-to-day operations by directing employees, members, and others to withdraw cash from an ATM using either a debit card that Crowe provided or the individual's personal debit card and instructed them to return the cash to her for the credit union operating needs, according to court documents.

Crowe also obtained funds from cash advances using members' credit cards, wiring funds to external accounts at other financial institutions and then obtaining cash from the transfer.

Additionally, the former executive also recorded fictitious loans and used those funds to issue official checks. Crowe then directed unwitting individuals to cash the check at local pawn shops or financial institutions and return the money to her so that she could replace the cash she stole from the vault and teller drawers. More than $675,000 of those checks were returned for insufficient funds.

The federal investigation determined Crowe created hundreds of phony loans by generating fraudulent loan documents and agreements between the credit union and unwitting members to cover up her theft. She also created fake loans to pay legitimate loans without the knowledge of members because Crowe used their identities to create the fictitious loans.

Federal prosecutors noted that in September 2016, Crowe created a fake loan for $100,000 in a member's name and then collateralized the loan with a certificate of deposit owned by that member but without that member's knowledge, consent or authorization.

Crowe then deposited the loan proceeds into an account held by that member. Fifteen days later, the former executive withdrew $100,000 in cash. She used the name, social security number, and date of birth of that unknowing member to carry out this fraud, prosecutors said.

Seven months after authorities launched an investigation into theft allegations at the $18.5 million Louisville Metro Police Officers CU, state regulators decided in June 2018 to appoint the NCUA to liquidate the cooperative that lost more than $3.4 million in 2017 and $2.1 million by the end the 2018's second quarter, according to NCUA financial performance reports.

The credit union served more than 3,000 members.

The $1.3 billion Commonwealth Credit Union of Frankfort, Ky. assumed LMPOCU's membership, shares, loans, and all other assets.