Sentence handed down for former CU employee. (Source: Shutterstock)
Claudia Wells, a former vice president for a Houston credit union call center who stole more than $40,000 from a 99-year-old member, was sentenced Tuesday to 13 months in federal prison.
U.S. District Court Judge George C. Hanks Jr. in Houston also ordered Wells to three years of supervised release following her prison term and to pay a $100 special assessment. Though the federal docket report did not show the judge's order for Wells to pay restitution, an earlier plea deal between prosecutors and Wells required her to pay restitution of $36,036.
Wells, who worked as a vice president of the call center since 2013, admitted that she used her position at the $1.7 billion First Community Credit Union to set up an online account without the permission of the elderly member, identified in court documents as TD.
Wells transferred TD's $43,000 to an FCCU account of a co-conspirator who was not identified in court documents. After siphoning the money from the elderly member's account, Wells fraudulently wrote on documents that the transfer of funds was for a boat purchase.
In May and June 2019, the co-conspirator made three $9,000 withdrawals from his FCCU account that originally came from TD's account.
Federal prosecutors did not respond to CU Times' inquiry as to whether charges have been filed or plan to be filed against Wells' co-conspirator.
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