- The DOJ alleged a Pennsylvania
bank manager embezzled $340,200 and set the safe aflame. - Patty Lynn Mavrakis, 63, was indicted on three federal charges from the 2016 incident.
- Mavrakis told the bank's insurers that a spark from an alarm inside the safe started the fire.
It's commonplace to hear about someone "burning through their money" by spending it quickly, but the US
Prosecutors allege that Patty Lynn Mavrakis, 63, embezzled $340,200 from Valley 1st Community Federal Credit Union where she was the branch manager. The grand jury indictment alleges she set fire to the bank's safe after taking the money.
Mavrakis told her supervisor that a wiring problem with the alarm in the safe caused a spark, setting the money ablaze. She also initiated an insurance claim for the burned and missing cash and filled out a proof of loss form that she signed and notarized.
The incident happened in 2016, but the indictment does not specify how authorities concluded five years later that she was the one who set the safe aflame.
On Wednesday, authorities announced Mavrakis was indicted on three charges:
- Embezzlement from a federal credit union
- Wire fraud
- Use of fire to commit federal felony
Mavrakis' arraignment and first court date in Pennsylvania's Western District are set for September 1, when she would enter a plea. She didn't yet have a lawyer listed on the court docket.