Ex-manager for Monessen, Pa, credit union charged in $340K embezzlement, arson

The former branch manager for a Monessen credit union stole $340,200 and then set a fire to cover her tracks, according to a federal grand jury. Patty Lynn Mavrakis, 63, of Belle Vernon, was charged Wednesday with embezzlement from a federal credit union, wire fraud and use of fire to commit a federal felony following an investigation by the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Ms. Mavrakis was the branch manager for Valley 1st Community Federal Credit Union.

In September 2016, she embezzled $340,200 from the safe for her personal use, the grand jury said. To conceal the theft, she started a fire in the safe and then claimed that the blaze destroyed the missing money, according to the indictment. She told her supervisor and other employees that an electrical wire for the safe's alarm sparked and ignited the money. She then called the credit union's insurance carrier to initiate a claim for the missing money, saying the alarm wire sparked and burned the money.

She also sent a proof of loss form, which she signed and notarized, to the insurance company, which paid the claim for the money and for damage from the fire. The indictment did not describe how agents determined that she set the fire herself.

Ms. Mavrakis remains free on a $50,000 bond and will be arraigned in U.S. District Court on Sept. 1.

https://www.post-gazette.com/news/crime-courts/2021/08/12/patty-lynn-mavrakis-charged-embezzlement-arson-ex-manager-valley-1st-community-fcu-monessen/stories/202108120161