EUGENE, Ore.–Police here have arrested a 50-year-old former employee of Northwest Community Credit Union (now known as Peak Credit Union) suspected of fraudulently accessing the accounts of deceased credit union members.
Teresa Lynn Margiotta was booked into Lane County Jail on suspicion of 38 separate counts of first-degree forgery, as well as numerous other complaints, including first-degree aggravated theft, according to LookoutEugeneSpringfield.com reported.
Margiotta worked as a senior support services specialist after starting out in 2005 as a teller, according to the administrative order.
20 Victims Named
Formal charges filed in Lane County Circuit Court named 20 victims of aggravated identity theft. Prosecutors charged Margiotta with four counts of aggravated identity theft and four counts of first-degree aggravated theft, LookoutEugeneSpringfield.com stated.
The publication reported that on Sept. 5 reported the suspected embezzlement, spokesperson Melinda McLaughlin said.
As the CU Daily reported earlier, NCUA in December issued an administrative order banning Margiotta from working in credit unions again.
As part of a consent agreement, Margiotta neither admitted nor denied findings from an investigation stating she caused more than $230,000 in losses to the Lacey, Wash.-based CU.
The Allegations
The administrative order states allegations that, beginning from at least August 2023 through February 2025, Margiotta “engaged in misconduct for her personal financial benefit.” Specifically, Margiotta is alleged to have “fraudulently issued checks from dormant members’ accounts, then voided them, and reissued them for her own purposes,” according to the report.
Margiotta has not worked at the credit union since July 2025, said Laurie Kresl, vice president of marketing for Peak Credit Union.
Immediate Action Taken
“Upon identifying irregular activity during their employment, we took immediate and decisive action, which included cooperating fully with law enforcement and regulatory authorities,” Peak CU VP-Marketing Laurie Kresl said in a statement to LookoutEugeneSpringfield.com reported. Kresl added that “no member funds were compromised.”
The former Northwest Community Credit Union merged with TwinStar Credit Union and rebranded as Peak Credit Union.
