Roscoe Man Sentenced to Nine Months in Federal Prison for Embezzling More Than $120,000 from Rock Valley Federal Credit Union

ROCKFORD—A Roscoe, Illinois man was sentenced today in federal court for embezzling funds from a local credit union. Thomas A. Miles, 42, the former collections supervisor of RockValley Federal Credit Union, was sentenced to nine months in federal prison without parole for embezzling funds from October 2007 to August 2010, totaling approximately $122,110.80, from the Rock Valley Federal Credit Union, 1201 Clifford Avenue in Loves Park, Illinois. Miles was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his imprisonment, the first nine months of which will be served in home detention with electronic monitoring. The court also ordered Miles to pay $122,110.80 in restitution.

According to the written plea agreement, from October 2005 through September 2010, Miles was employed in the Collections Department of Rock Valley Federal Credit Union located at 1201 Clifford Avenue in Loves Park. During that time, he was promoted to the position of collections supervisor. The Collections Department was responsible for overseeing collections on the Credit Union’s delinquent loans. The Collections Department routinely received checks from various parties that had collected funds owed by the credit union’s loan customers. As the Collections Supervisor, Miles was responsible for ensuring these checks were applied to the appropriate loan customers’ accounts.

In the plea agreement, Miles admitted that from October 2007 through August 2010, he embezzled approximately 163 checks that were payable to the credit union on behalf of loan customers. Miles directed tellers at the credit union to cash the checks and issue money orders in the amounts of those checks. Miles then deposited the money orders into his personal savings account at Amcore Bank. Finally, Miles transferred the funds back to his personal checking account at Rock Valley Federal Credit Union. Miles used the funds he embezzled to pay his own personal expenses.

To conceal his embezzlements, Miles inappropriately credited portions of other checks received by the credit union to accounts that should have been credited with the checks Miles embezzled. These inappropriate credits made it appear that some funds were being collected on those customers’ accounts.

The sentencing was announced today by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois; and Robert Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott A. Verseman.