Ex-VP for police credit union gets prison term

Woman also must pay $1.2M in restitution to former employer

A retired vice president for the Houston Police Federal Credit Union is ordered to pay $1.2 million in restitution for embezzling.

A retired vice president of accounting for the Houston Police Federal Credit Union was sentenced Monday to 3½ years in federal prison for embezzling $1.2 million from her former employer.

Cheryl Vickers, 67, stood before U.S. District Judge Melinda Harmon and dabbed her eyes with a wad of tissues.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly. “Honest.”

Harmon sentenced Vickers, who has been free on bail, to serve 41 months in federal prison and ordered her to pay $1,247,785 in restitution. Following her term in prison, she must be on supervised release for three years, the judge said.

She pleaded guilty in January to stealing money from the federally insured credit union.

The attorneys on both sides of Harmon’s court Monday agreed that Vickers has repaid $947,000 of that total, but she still owes the credit union $300,000, which defense attorney Christopher L. Tritico said she hopes to repay after her home in the northwest part of greater Houston undergoes flood-related repairs and gets sold.

Federal investigators became aware of the scheme after Vickers retired on good terms after 25 years in upper management at the credit union. A relative of a deceased member of the credit union came in to ask for a stale check — which had passed its date of validity — to be reissued. The credit union realized the stale check had already been reissued, by Vickers.

According to her plea, Vickers reissued stale checks to her personal creditors to pay her credit card expenses and other bills. She also skimmed rebate fees and used a credit union account to pay other expenses. She admitted to taking money from her employer since June 1997, as far back as records exist.

When FBI agents ar-

“This grew out of her inability to rein in her husband and rein in his conduct.”

Christopher L. Tritico, defense attorney

rived at her home, Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek said, Vickers offered to write a check on the spot to repay the money. But the government and her former employer wanted to see the process through.

Tritico asked the judge to sentence Vickers to probation with electronic monitoring, which would be a significant downward departure from the sentencing guidelines. He said given her age, her remorse and willingness to pay restitution, Vickers merited getting a break.

After court, her lawyer said that while Vickers was not offering excuses for her conduct, her late husband was an emotionally abusive alcoholic who spent their savings on multiple race cars, multiple RVs, sets of golf clubs, country club memberships and other expenses even during periods when he was unemployed.

“This grew out of her inability to rein in her husband and rein in his conduct,” Tritico said.

However, Ann Talley, president of the credit union, expressed a different perspective during the proceeding. She told the judge Monday that as one of the top five executives at the company, Vickers “presented herself as a dedicated member of management” and “for us to discover she was a thief and a fraud has cast a shadow” on the company’s reputation and “eroded the trust of our members.”

Beek, who prosecuted the case, asked the judge to issue a standard range sentence, emphasizing Vickers “could have walked away at any time” in nearly two decades of siphoning off money.

Harmon opted for the low end of the sentencing range and ordered Vickers, who remains on bond, to report to federal officials when summoned to begin her prison term.