Portland Man Sentenced to a Year and a Day for Credit Union Embezzlement and Making False Entries in Credit Union Records

Contact: Donald E. Clark
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine:  United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that John C. Barry, 69, of Portland, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court by Chief Judge Nancy Torresen to a year and a day in prison for embezzlement and making false entries in credit union records. He was also order to pay $533,791 in restitution.  He pled guilty to the charges on November 18, 2015.

According to court records, the defendant was the manager of the Portland Police Department Federal Credit Union (“PPDFCU”), a federal credit union whose deposits were federally insured.  In that capacity, the defendant had access to PPDFCU bank accounts and was responsible for managing the activities of the credit union.  Between 2009 and December 2013, the defendant embezzled $533,791 from credit union accounts by transferring the funds into his and his family members’ accounts for his and their personal use.  Over that period of time, the defendant was also responsible for preparing and submitting certified quarterly call reports to the National Credit Union Administration (“NCUA”).  The defendant caused false quarterly call reports to be filed that overstated the PPDFCU’s net worth to make it appear that PPDFCU was sufficiently capitalized, when in truth and in fact, as he well knew, the PPDFCU was not sufficiently capitalized.  As a result, on December 1, 2014, the NCUA facilitated the acquisition of the PPDFCU by a much larger federal credit union.

The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.