An August trial has been scheduled for a former credit union teller manager who allegedly stole $181,000 from a branch safe at a Louisiana credit union and then fled to Florida.
Alex Marie Braud, 34, of Gretna, La., made her first court appearance in U.S. District Court in New Orleans last month. She did not enter a plea during her arraignment hearing, according to court filings.
Braud was indicted in February on one felony count of bank theft. She was released on an unsecured $5,000 bond.
On the morning of Feb. 4, an employee of the $310 million River Land Federal Credit Unionarrived at the Virgil Street branch in Gretna, noticed money was missing from the safe and called police.
Security footage showed that Braud arrived at the branch at 7:35 a.m. holding a gray and black bag as she walked to the safe at the back of the branch and disarmed the alarm system, according to a criminal complaint.
She opened the safe's door, manipulated its contents and held the bag out of the camera's view. Braud then closed the safe's door and left the branch without locking the safe or rearming its alarm system. She walked out at 7:37 a.m., leaving her credit union-issued identification card on a teller's desk, federal investigators said.
After identifying Braud as the suspect, police issued an alert for her red Toyota Corolla.
That afternoon, Florida Highway Patrol troopers spotted Braud's car in the Pensacola, Fla., area., about 240 miles east of Gretna. After pulling her over, authorities searched the vehicle and found nearly $150,000 and a firearm, according to the criminal complaint.
Peter Strozniak can be reached at peter.strozniak@arc-network.com.
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