A Pennsylvania credit union employee who set a fire in order to file an insurance claim for money she had earlier embezzled has been sentenced to 30 months in prison.
U.S. Attorney Eric G. Olshan announced that Patty Lynn Mavrakis, of Rostraver, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marilyn J. Horan for her conviction on wire fraud.
According to information presented to the court, Mavrakis was a branch manager for Valley 1st Community Federal Credit Union. In September 2016, she embezzled $399,230.00 from the credit union. In order to conceal the theft, she intentionally started a fire in the credit union’s safe, claiming a faulty wire caused the fire and destroyed the missing currency. In the days following the fire, she made a fraudulent insurance claim on behalf of the credit union for the missing currency.
Court records show that she further made numerous false statements to law enforcement as they investigated the embezzlement and fire.
The court was advised that Mavrakis likely used the embezzled funds on gambling, as she lost approximately four times her annual salary in the months following the embezzlement and fire.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives were involved in the investigation leading to the prosecution of Mavrakis. Assistant United States Attorney Lee J. Karl prosecuted this case on behalf of the government.
Source: United States Attorney, Western District of Pennsylvania
Was this article valuable?
Here are more articles you may enjoy.
Home Insurance at $10,000 a Year Shows California Buyers’ Pain 
Big ‘I’ Report: Independent Agency Channel Placed 62% of Premiums in 2023 
Cyber Insurance Market ‘Stable’ With Potential for Growth, Says AM Best 
Workers Sue Disney, Say They Were Wrongly Induced to Move to Florida 
