Credit union teller sentenced

A woman who allegedly stole money from Whitefish Credit Union's branch in Polson for about 10 years was sentenced to jail last week.

Kathleen Sammons, 52, of Charlo, was sentenced in federal court on July 8 to 30 days in jail with five years supervised release for her role in embezzling and laundering money from the credit union.

Sammons, who pleaded guilty on March 29, admitted she started stealing from the Credit Union in 1998. A teller at the time, Sammons stole money from her cash drawer and continued to do so for the next 10 years. The magnitude of her crimes increased when she was promoted to Polson branch manager in 2009.

Sammons' fraud was uncovered during a surprise audit in June 2010 when investigators found the Polson branch's vault to be $676,000 short.

The money laundering charge stems from Whitefish Credit Union records showing Sammons conducted "transactions" in which she made large cash withdrawals from customer accounts, added the funds to the vault cash account for easy access, and then reversed the general ledger entry.

During one such "transaction," Sammons removed $210,000 from a customer's account. When the FBI interviewed that customer, he stated that he had not authorized the transaction and, in fact, had no idea that the transaction had occurred.

Sammons told federal investigators she used the stolen money to pay for high school sports banquets and trips, a house in Dillon, to cover thefts of cash by other credit union employees and to enhance her personal income.

Sammons was ordered to pay $676,872 in restitution. Her five year supervised release includes 17 months of home confinement.