Two Former Milledgeville Credit Union Employees Plead Guilty to Embezzlement

ROCKFORD, IL—Two former employees of Milledgeville Community Credit Union have pleaded guilty in separate federal cases to embezzling money from Milledgeville Community Credit Union in Milledgeville, Illinois. Kimberly Kent, 53, who was also a former treasurer of Wysox Township, pleaded guilty in federal court today, and Kelsey Selman, 37, pleaded guilty on January 28, 2014.

According to Kent’s written plea agreement, from October 2005 through February 2012, Kent embezzled approximately $219,600 from Milledgeville Community Credit Union, where she was the manager and responsible for supervising other employees. Kent was also responsible for her own cash drawer and for handling various transactions on accounts, including the deposit and withdrawal of funds to and from customers’ accounts. As stated in the plea agreement, to conceal her embezzlement, Kent created fictitious loans using the names of family members and fictitious certificates of deposit In 2009, Kent was elected treasurer of Wysox Township. Kent admitted that in August 2010, in her capacity as treasurer of Wysox Township, she used funds from Wysox Township’s account at Milledgeville Community Credit Union to cover her embezzlement. Kent used the money she embezzled for personal purposes. The deposits of the credit union were insured by the National Credit Union Administration Board.

In Selman’s written plea agreement, Selman admitted that from 2007 through February 2012, she embezzled approximately $100,975.74 from Milledgeville Community Credit Union. Selman worked as a teller for the credit union handling deposits and withdrawals on accounts, including her own credit union account. According to the plea agreement, Selman repeatedly took money over that period of time, using the credit union’s computer system to apply credits to her personal account that did not have a corresponding deposit. As a result, the credit union’s records falsely reflected that Selman’s cash drawer increased by an amount to offset the deposit into her account. After she credited the money into her account, Selman used the money she embezzled for personal purposes.

Kent and Selman each face a maximum sentence of 30 years’ imprisonment, a term of supervised release of up to five years following imprisonment, and a fine of up to $1 million. Each defendant has repaid Milledgeville Community Credit Union for the full amount of the loss. Sentencing for Kent is set for June 2, 2014, at 2:30 p.m. Sentencing for Selman is set for May 7, 2014, at 2:30 p.m.

The guilty pleas were announced by Zachary T. Fardon, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Robert J. Holley, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott R. Paccagnini.