A woman in northwest Iowa is facing federal charges after authorities say she embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars from her former employer. The U.S. Attorney’s office says 53 year old Linda Zech of Spencer is charged with financial institution fraud and money laundering. Federal authorities allege that Zech schemed to defraud the Eaton Employee’s Credit Union.
Court documents say the problems could go back as far as January, 2003. Prosecutors claim Zech wrote credit union checks to family members and third parties. At other times she’s alleged to have taken cash deposits by credit union members and issued fraudulent loans in the name of family members and other people. If convicted, Zech could face 50 years in prison and a fine of $750,000.