Columbus Credit Union Clerk Pleads Guilty to Embezzling $437,000

Crystal Ferreira, 27, of Fall River, Mass., faces up to 30 years in federal prison when she is sentenced in January, after pleading guilty on Oct. 4 to embezzling more than $437,000 from a Columbus Credit Union branch office in East Providence.

Ferreira, a supervisor at the bank, admitted to the theft when East Providence Police investigated the incident Sept. 18, according to a report from EastBayRI.com. On Oct. 4, she pled guilty to one count of embezzlement from a federally insured credit union, admitting to the court that beginning in May 2012 she began taking large sums of money from the credit union’s vault, ATM, and cash shipments delivered to the credit union, according to United States Attorney Peter F. Neronha's office in a joint release including East Providence Police Chief Joseph H. Tavares and Vincent B. Lisi, Special Agent in Charge of the Boston field office of the FBI.

According to information presented to the court, on Sept. 18, 2012, during an investigation by East Providence Police into an unrelated robbery of the credit union, Ferreira admitted she had been embezzling funds. She told police she embezzled the funds in response to a demand for cash being made to her by two men she said threatened her, her co-workers and their families. She later recanted the story of the demand for cash and the threats.

Beginning in May 2012, Ferreira first took $10,000 from the vault, and replaced it with money from the ATM.  She took another $10,000 a few weeks later.  On another day, Ferreira admitted to the court, on several occasions she placed as much bundled cash as she could in shopping bags which she later removed from the credit union.  In addition, Ferreira admitted to embezzling two bulk money shipments of $65,000 each which were delivered to the branch office but which she never entered into the computer system. A Credit union audit determined that Ferreira embezzled $437, 250.

Ferreira is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. on Jan. 9, 2014. At sentencing, Ferreira faces statutory penalties of up to 30 years in federal prison, followed by up to 5 years supervised release and a fine of up to $1,000,000.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John P. McAdams and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin S. Towbin.