Charlo Woman sentenced For Credit Union Embezzlement

The U.S. attorney's office says a 52-year-old Charlo woman has been sentenced to 2½ years in prison after pleading guilty to embezzling nearly $677,000 from a Polson credit union over a decade.

Kathleen Sammons was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula. She was also sentenced to five years of supervised release, including 17 months of home confinement, and ordered to pay $676,872 in restitution.

Sammons was charged with taking the money from a branch of the Whitefish Credit Union, beginning in 1998 when she was a teller. She was promoted to branch manager in 2009. A surprise audit in June 2010 revealed the missing money and the cover-up.

Sammons told investigators she used part of the money to buy a house in Dillon.

Associated Press