Arkansas woman sentenced to prison after stealing over $300K from elderly
A Benton woman has now been sentenced after she used her access as an employee for a credit union to steal over $300,000 from several elderly people.
ARKANSAS, USA — An Arkansas woman has now been sentenced to prison for stealing more than $300,000 from elderly customers at a credit union in New Hampshire.
According to reports, 27-year-old Tyra Brown of Benton, Arkansas, worked as a customer service representative for the credit union. She was able to use her access as an employee to see customers’ personal info, which included security questions and answers as well as account balances.
Brown reportedly used that access to steal $301,674.89 from at least 10 elderly victims, and she also attempted to steal $428,526.85 in total.
To perform the money theft, Brown used wires, electronic debits, and Zelle to transfer victim funds to other accounts.
“The defendant deliberately abused her position of trust and chose to target elderly account holders, knowing some of whom were unfamiliar with electronic banking,” said Acting U.S. Attorney McCormack. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office and our law enforcement partners are vigilantly working to protect Granite Staters from fraudsters like the defendant.”
In January, Brown pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, and she faced up to 20 years in prison and “a fine of up to $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater.”
“Tyra Brown had no compunction about swindling elderly victims out of their hard-earned money. What she did isn’t just cowardly, it’s cruel,” said James Crowley, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division. “The FBI will never stop working to shut down elder fraud schemes like this one.”
Now, Brown has been sentenced to three years in prison and three years of supervised release.