Ex-credit union worker must repay $2.3 million

A former credit union employee must repay $2.3 million to the financial institution where she worked — and fleeced money — for 40 years.

Barbara Coward also was ordered Tuesday to serve 46 months in prison for using false names to take out a series of loans at Utah Copper Employees Credit Union during her employment as a teller and branch manager between 1963 and March 2003.

Coward, 73, pleaded guilty in March to a single count of bank fraud. In doing so, she admitted to taking a total of $2.6 million from the Copperton credit union. Restitution was agreed upon at $2.3 million.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah, Coward would deposit funds from fraudulent loans into her own bank account or that of a relative. When each loan came due, she would then take out another loan to pay it off.