Former Credit Union Employee Sentenced for Embezzlement

BOSTON—An Adams woman was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Springfield for embezzlement and other related charges.

Patricia Piscioneri, 67, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Michael A. Ponsor to one day in prison, followed by two years of supervised release (the first six months of which must be spent in home confinement), 100 hours of community service, and a $3,000 fine. In January 2013, Piscioneri pleaded guilty to a 30-count indictment charging her with embezzlement of funds by a credit union employee and false entries.

While employed as the manager of the former Adams Municipal Employees Federal Credit Union (AMEFCU), Piscioneri embezzled credit union funds by creating fraudulent loan accounts in the names of credit union members and depositing the proceeds of these fraudulent loans into her own account(s), her husband’s account(s), other family members’ account(s), or used the proceeds to pay off earlier obtained fraudulent loans. In an attempt to avoid detection, Piscioneri created fraudulent loan documentation, such as loan applications and promissory notes and forged signatures on these documents, created false entries in the AMEFCU accounting system, and advanced the payment due dates of the fraudulent loans.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Richard DesLauriers, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michelle L. Dineen Jerrett.