PITTSBURGH (TNS) — The former president of a small Beaver County credit union who embezzled more than $2 million and used it on all manner of purchases, from iTunes to Omaha Steaks, will spend 51 months in federal prison.
Stacey Shaw, 48, of Industry, who had been the president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local Union 712 Federal Credit Union, was sentenced Wednesday in U.S. District Court by Judge Marilyn Horan.
Shaw’s grandparents started the credit union in 1964 and her mother ran it previously. Shaw began working there in 2004 and was later elevated to president and CEO.
Then, at age 44 and with no prior criminal history, she began stealing.
From May 2017 to March 2020, she embezzled the money by opening six credit cards issued by the union without getting approval from the board of directors.
She raised the credit limits on the cards 138 times and used the available credit to make purchases. Unlike many other embezzlers, agreed both the government and Shaw’s lawyer, she didn’t steal to feed a gambling or drug problem.
”It really just boils down to greed,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Karl.
Her lawyer, Samir Sarna, said he wished he could blame her thefts on drugs or gambling but couldn’t. She simply used the money to make purchases to iTunes, Netflix, a nail salon, Nintendo, Amazon Prime Video, Barnes and Noble and numerous restaurants and hotels.
”I would just like to deeply apologize for everything,” Shaw said.
She and her lawyer asked for leniency based on her role as the mother of two daughters, ages 15 and 18, with special needs. But Karl said federal sentencing guidelines don’t allow for consideration of family obligations, because nearly everyone who gets sentenced in federal court has children, parents or siblings that require some level of care.
Karl said giving special treatment for those taking care of children wouldn’t be fair to those who don’t have kids.
”It would lead to problems, because if you don’t have a child, you get a longer prison sentence,” he said.
He said that children, unfortunately, often suffer from the criminal actions of their parents. In Shaw’s case, he said, “that’s a piece of collateral damage” that she caused with her systematic theft scheme.
He said she “quite literally” put the credit union out of business and that the money is gone. The FBI, the IRS and federal marshals all tried to find assets bought with stolen money that they could seize and use to repay victims but came up empty.
”There was nothing to recoup,” Karl said. “It’s just gone.”
The judge said she was sympathetic to Shaw’s situation and her children, but agreed with Karl that prison is warranted.
”It’s wrenching, I know, but it’s part of due process,” she said of being separated from her daughters.
