Five Charged with Fraud in Wilkes-Barre City Employees Federal Credit Union Investigation | WPN World People News

The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced that a Grand Jury in Scranton returned indictments Tuesday charging five members of the Wilkes-Barre City Employees Federal Credit Union with conspiracy and bank fraud. The indictments were sealed pending the arrests and/or voluntary surrender of the defendants.

According to United States Attorney Peter Smith, Tino Ninotti, age 35, Jason Anthony, age 34, Leo Glodzik, age 43, Amanda Magda, age 30, and Jeffrey Serafin, age 35, were charged in three separate indictments related to activities of the credit union. Glodzik is also charged with tampering with a witness. Magda was the assistant manager at the Credit Union; Jason Anthony is a Wilkes-Barre City Police Officer; Ninotti is a former Wilkes-Barre City Police officer; Glodzik is a contractor whose company had a towing contract with the City of Wilkes-Barre.

Four of the defendants appeared before Magistrate Judge Karoline Mehalchick in federal court in Wilkes-Barre. Ninotti, Anthony and Glodzik were released from custody and ordered to report to pretrial services. Glodzik was ordered to surrender his passport. Serafin was released on his own recognizance. The hearing for Magda is expected to take place.

The indictments, unsealed, allege that the defendants, during 2014, individually or by aiding and abetting one another, secured loans from the Credit Union by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, including the use of false collateral, the stolen identities of others who were not aware of loans in their names, and forgery. Magda and Anthony are charged in one indictment; Ninotti, Glodzik and Magda in a second indictment; and Serafin alone in the third indictment.

If convicted, the defendants face up to 30 years in prison and fines in the amount of $1,000,000.

According to the U.S. Attorney the charges are a significant step in an ongoing corruption investigation by the FBI. The case represents the pursuit of allegations against individuals; the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office value the close working relationships they have with local police departments, including Wilkes-Barre’s, and with honest police officers. These relationships will continue.

Source: U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation