Ex-credit union worker must repay $2.3 million

A former employee at a Copperton credit union was ordered Tuesday to pay $2.3 million in restitution for years of fraud.

Barbara Coward, 73, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in March for a decades-long scheme of taking out fraudulent loans at the Utah Copper Employees Credit Union.

Coward worked at the credit union from 1963 to 2003 as a teller and later a branch manager. She would steal the money by taking out loans under false names, repay them with other fraudulent loans for a greater amount and depositing the extra money into her account or that of a relative, according to court documents.

The total loss to the credit union is estimated at $2.6 million, but as part of Coward's plea agreement she agreed to pay $2.3 million. She also was sentenced to three years and 10 months in federal prison.

Coward was charged in a three-count bank fraud indictment returned by a federal grand jury in September.