A former teller of Magnifi Financial Credit Union, Melrose, Minn., who pled guilty to one count of felony theft this March has been prohibited from any future work in a federally insured financial institution, the federal credit union regulator said in a consent order announced Friday.
In the order, the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) said Luz Araceli Davila-Hernandez used her position as teller to identify accounts vulnerable to theft and, between May 31 and Oct. 16 of last year – the period of her employment – “made a series of unauthorized cash withdraws” from the vulnerable accounts and deposited them into accounts she controlled. It also said Davila-Hernandez changed the accounts’ contact information to her own so notices of unauthorized withdraws would go to her instead of the account-owning members.
The order states that her actions caused the credit union “significant financial loss” and that she was terminated Oct. 16, 2023.