Ohio woman embezzled $2.1M from Beaver credit union to buy 4-wheelers, farm animals, FBI says
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An Ohio woman sentenced in January on charges of embezzling more than $2 million from a Beaver credit union spent much of it on agricultural purchases, including attempting to start a pig farm, federal investigators said.
Stacey Shaw of Salem, Ohio, was sentenced to more than four years in prison after being convicted of embezzling from a federal credit union. Federal officials said Shaw, who was president and CEO of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 712 Federal Credit Union, opened six unauthorized credit cards over a three-year period and spent $2.1 million.
Following an audit, credit union officials reached out to the FBI. Through bank records, agents were able to piece together what Shaw had done to the credit union started by her own grandparents.
“She bought some land and spent a lot of money outfitting that land for her use,” said Special Agent Samantha Bell of the FBI’s Pittsburgh field office. “She bought ATVs, four-wheelers, four sheds, pigs. At one point, she had a horse and some really big rabbits. A lot of money went into funding that effort.”
Despite all of Shaw’s spending, there was very little for government officials to recover, Bell said.
“The property is actually worth less than what she bought it for,” she said. “Nothing that she had left would actually make a profit for the government.”
The credit union may take hold of some of the assets in an attempt to recoup some of the losses, but it was forced to permanently close, the FBI said.
“This credit union no longer exists because of her actions,” Bell said.