Sammons sentenced for embezzling $676,872 from Whitefish Credit Union
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Polson and surrounding communities were stunned when Kathie Sammons, vice president of Whitefish Credit Union in Polson, went missing and so did $676,872 from the credit union on June 23, 2010.
Since a theft at a credit union is turned over to the federal government, the Federal Bureau of Investigation took over the case. Sammons was arrested on July 26, 2010. She was charged with one count of embezzlement from a credit union and one count of money laundering.
Sammons dropped out of sight as her case worked its way through the U.S. Federal Court System in Missoula.
According to court documents, Sammons started work at WCU in 1996 and began embezzling cash from her teller drawer in 1998. Promoted to Polson Branch Manager in 2009, Sammons continued embezzling until a surprise audit on June 23, 2010 uncovered the missing monies.
When confronted by FBI and IRS agents, Sammons confessed to stealing the money and described her methods. Each day a cash count was conducted during which two credit union employees counted the cash in the vault and in the teller drawers. Sammons would complete the first columns of the vault-balancing sheet, which included the cash counts with a second teller. Then she would have the other teller initial off on the form. Sammons would then complete the vault-balancing sheet by herself so that it balanced to the general ledger. In order to hide her theft, Sammons would white-out numbers for cash counts in the first two columns that were witnessed by the second teller. Sammons would then place numbers in these columns over the whited-out numbers that matched the general ledger balances. Sammons kept the original vault balancing sheets in her office and sent copies to the accounting department via fax so the white-out would be hidden.
Apparently Sammons kept track of the amount of money she stole over the years. When the rare cash audit occurred, Sammons was advised and took steps to hide her theft of cash from the vault. Sammons would make cash withdrawals from a high balance customer’s account by debiting the customer’s account. She would then credit the vault cash account in the same amount. This was a paper transaction designed to lower the general ledger balance of the vault to cover up the cash taken by Sammons. As soon as the auditors left, Sammons would reverse the general ledger entry.
With specific regard to the money laundering charge, just such a transaction took place on Aug. 23, 2007 when Sammons withdrew $210,000 from a customer’s account and added the funds into the vault cash account. Sammons reversed the general ledger entry on Aug. 27, 2007. When interviewed by the FBI, the customer explained he did not authorize anyone to withdraw cash from his account and had no idea such a transaction had occurred.
According to court records, Sammons told federal investigators she made donations to charities, made loan payments for credit union customers, paid for high school sports banquets and trips, bought a house in Dillon, covered thefts of cash by other credit union employees and in general enhanced her personal income.
The investigation was a cooperative effort between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Criminal Investigation Division of the Internal Revenue Service.
The sentencing press release said Sammons faced possible penalties of 30 years in prison, a $1,000,000 fine and five years supervised release.
However, when Sammons, 52, represented by Lance P. Jasper and Katie Olson from Jasper, Smith and Olson, was sentenced on July 6, she received 30 days jail time for each count, to be served concurrently, five years of probation on count one and three years on count two, also to run concurrently and 17 months home confinement with an electronic monitoring device for at least six months. She also must pay a $200 fine.
Sammons can leave her home for employment, education, religious services, medical treatment, substance abuse treatment or mental health treatment, attorney visits, court appearance, court-ordered obligations or other activities pre-approved in writing by her probation officer.
Sammons was slated to report to the U.S. Marshalls Office on July 15 by 10 a.m. to begin serving her sentence.
In addition, Sammons must pay restitution of the $676,872 at the rate of $400 per month with the interest waived, which works out to 141 years. Court documents state the court determined Sammons does not have the ability to pay interest.
Whitefish Credit Union will receive $150,000 of Sammons’ restitution, and CUMIS Insurance Society, Inc. will receive the additional $526,872.
Whitefish Credit Union CEO Jim Kenyon had little to say about the recent ruling.
“As far as we’re concerned, it’s been put to bed,” Kenyon said.
Prosecuting U.S. Attorney Kris A. McLean also had no comment.
According to the Missoula County Jail roster, Sammons was booked into custody on July 15 at 10:42 a.m.
