Belle Vernon woman pleads guilty to wire fraud in theft case
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A Belle Vernon woman charged with stealing $340,200 from a bank she worked for pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in the case.
Patty Lynn Mavrakis, 65, entered the plea on Thursday in federal court in Pittsburgh.
According to the indictment, Mavrakis, the branch manager for Valley 1st Community Federal Credit Union in Belle Vernon, went to the bank when it was closed on Labor Day in 2016, and took the cash from a safe. Authorities said she went to work early on the next day – Sept. 6, 2016 – and staged a fire in the safe, claiming a faulty alarm wire caught on fire and the cash was burned up. The following day, she submitted a claim to the bank’s insurance company, alleging the alarm wire caused the fire.
The insurance company processed and paid the claim.
Mavrakis was indicted in 2021, and will be sentenced in the case on Oct. 11. She could face up to 20 years in prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, or both.
Pending sentencing, she remains free on bond.