March 24, 2015

Former Head Teller at Lynrocten Credit Union Sentenced

LYNCHBURG, VA—The former head teller of the Lynrocten Credit Union in Lynchburg was sentenced today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Lynchburg on federal embezzlement charges.

Teresa Wieringo Humphries, 60, of Madison Heights, Va., previously waived her right to be indicted and pled guilty a one-count Information charging her with embezzlement from a Federal Credit Union. Today in District Court, Humphries was sentenced to 40 months of federal incarceration.

According to evidence presented at previous hearings by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Bubar, Humphries had been the head teller at the Lynrocten Credit Union since the mid-1980s. Beginning in 2000, and continuing until the credit union’s liquidation, Humphries, and Linda Sue Newcomb, the manager of the credit union, carried out a scheme to embezzle and steal funds from the credit union’s deposits through the unauthorized and fraudulent origination of loans in the names of credit union members. An additional portion of the scheme involved Humphries and Newcomb using check kiting to obtain additional monies of the credit union and conceal and facilitate the fraudulent loan scheme.

The funds created through both the loan and check writing portions of the scheme were eventually funneled to the Lynrocten Credit Union accounts of Humphries, Newcomb and their family members. Between 2007 and the liquidation of the Lynrocten Federal Credit Union in 2013, Humphries personally stole approximately $3,000-$4,000 per month that she deposited into the accounts belonging to her family members. In total, Humphries stole in excess of $1 million from the Lynrocten Federal Credit Union. The overall loss to the credit union, however, was in excess of $10 million, and contributed to the ultimate collapse of that financial institution.

Linda Sue Newcomb is scheduled to be sentenced for her role in the scheme on May 26, 2015 in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Secret Service and the Lynchburg Police Department. Acting United States Attorney Anthony P. Giorno and Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Bubar are prosecuting the case for the United States.