Nicole Hilstolsky, who staged a 2018 robbery of the Pennsylvania credit union where she worked, was sentenced Tuesday to an eight-month federal prison sentence.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani in Scranton also ordered Hilstolsky to pay $22,197 in restitution and to two years of supervised release after her prison term. She pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft by a credit union employee in December and is expected to begin serving her prison sentence in April.
On Oct. 15, 2018, Hilstolsky stole $16,247 from the branch safe and teller drawer at the $2.5 million W.O.D. Federal Credit Union in Forty Fort, about 20 miles south of Scranton. Later that day, she told police investigators that two masked and armed men robbed the credit union. She also claimed the robbers stole the credit union's security camera system.
But prosecutors said after taking the cash, Hilstolsky removed the security camera and hid it along with the money, retrieving both days later without detection.
The robbery shocked the community because the credit union was only about 20 yards away from the police station, according to local media reports.
Court documents did not explain why the phony robbery remained a cold case for seven years. Hilstolsky was not indicted until November 2025.
Before reporting the fabricated robbery, Hilstolsky "misappropriated" an additional $5,000 from the credit union, prosecutors said.
She used the stolen funds to pay off debts and other expenses.
By the first quarter of 2019, the NCUA deemed W.O.D. Federal Credit Union to be in poor financial condition and merged it with the $170 million UFCW Community Federal Credit Union in Wyoming, Pa.
Prosecutors said Hilstolsky also stole from UFCW Community. After she was caught misappropriating $950, she paid the money back, resigned and blamed the theft on her husband's gambling problem.
However, court documents stated Hilstolsky has struggled with gambling addiction since 2018. After admitting to the W.O.D. Federal Credit Union theft, she sought treatment and counseling.
"Mrs. Hilstolsky has personally learned her lesson due to her significant embarrassment of having to admit to her loved ones that she engaged in this criminal conduct," her lawyer wrote in a sentencing memo to the court. "Nonetheless, Mrs. Hilstolsky has taken all the right steps to assure that she does not commit another crime."
A family member of Mrs. Hilstolsky's is willing to pay the full restitution, her lawyer said.
Peter Strozniak can be reached at peter.strozniak@arc-network.com.
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