Two former credit union employees, Christian Wright and Kevin Spratt, who stole $878,000 from credit union members were banned from ever working at a federally insured financial institution, the NCUA said Monday.
Christian Wright stole more than $100,000 from an elderly member of the $462 million Mid American Credit Union in Wichita Kan. Before he pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft last December, he failed to show up at a court hearing on the eve of his trial on April 4, 2024. Three months later authorities arrested him in Missouri and prosecutors extradited Wright back to Kansas. In court documents, Assistant District Attorney Daniel Obermeier argued Wright deserved prison time for breaching his fiduciary duty, targeting a vulnerable person, and failing to appear for his trial.
Instead, Johnson County District Court Judge Neil B. Foth last March sentenced Wright to 26 days at an adult detention center and three years’ probation. He also was required to complete a theft prevention class. In addition, Judge Forth ordered the former credit union employee to pay $10,000 to Mid American CU, which was its loss from an insurance deductible. TruStage is requesting $95,905 in restitution, according to prosecutors. The audit cost $4,253.
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“The victim in the matter was a 60-year-old woman who clearly trusted that her money was safe in the bank,” Obermeier wrote in the state’s sentencing memo to Judge Forth. “The Defendant realized that he could withdraw funds on this individual, and no other, and that she would be unaware. This took place multiple times over the course of over two years (April 2019 to July 2021). It was only through his own superiors’ investigation that any embezzlement was uncovered.”
In 2021, a member of the $9.4 billion Police & Fire Federal Credit Union (PFFCU) in Philadelphia confronted senior branch sales representative Kevin Spratt about thousands of dollars missing from a savings account he had helped her set up after her husband's death in 2018. During this confrontation, Spratt returned the funds using a combination of cash and a cashier’s check.
Beyond this incident, Spratt victimized 15 other members by stealing $772,155 from their accounts and by taking out 32 loans in their names to support his gambling disorder.
On Tuesday, U.S. District Court Judge Anita B. Brody sentenced Spratt to 27 months in federal prison to be followed by five years of supervised release, according to the Philadelphia U.S. Attorney’s office.Last October, he pleaded guilty to one felony count of bank fraud and one felony count of aggravated identity theft.
Judge Brody also ordered the former credit union employee to pay $822,155 in restitution, which included the cost of the forensic audit incurred by PFFCU.
Although some losses resulted from fraudulent loans, a significant portion stemmed from Spratt’s theft from members’ accounts. He cultivated personal relationships with members, some of whom considered him a trusted friend as well as their banker, prosecutors said.
To avoid detection, Spratt eliminated paper bank statements for victims, allowing him to control the flow of financial information and forcing many members to interact with him directly, enabling his manipulation of their account issues.
Peter Strozniak can be reached at [email protected].
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Peter Strozniak
Credit Union Times reporter covering credit union operations, fraud, M&As, leagues, business continuity, and breaking news.
