HOUSTON – Two suburban women have been ordered to federal prison following their conviction for embezzling from their former employer, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick.

Susanna Guajardo, 43, Pearland, and Grace Garza aka Grace Valencia, 49, Pasadena, pleaded guilty June 19 and Feb. 17, respectively.

Today, U.S. District Judge Lake handed Guajardo and Garza a total of 33 and 31 months in prison, respectively, each to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. At the hearing, Judge Lake also ordered Guarjardo and Garza  o pay $1,154,876 and $1,163,673 in restitution, respectively. In handing down the sentence, the court noted the sentence was appropriate given the long duration of the scheme and the amount of money involved.

Guajardo and Garza were long-time employees at a local credit union. Guajardo was a supervisor in the Accounting Department and Garza was a teller/vault supervisor. Both women admitted to embezzling $1,154,876 by depositing worthless checks from other banks into their credit union accounts. When the checks were returned for insufficient funds, Guajardo failed to deduct the “bounced” amounts from their credit union accounts and concealed the theft by making false entries in the bank’s books and records. Garza also stole $110,000 from the credit union’s vault.

Previously released on bond, Guajardo and Garza were permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.

The FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek is prosecuting the case.

HOUSTON – An ex-employee at a local credit union has been charged with embezzlement and making false entries into the credit union’s books and records, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick. Another ex-employee was also charged with embezzlement related to the scam.

A federal grand jury charged Susanna Guajardo, 42, of Pearland in a five-count superseding indictment returned under seal Dec. 12, 2018. She was taken into custody today, at which time the indictment was unsealed, and is expected to make her initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Frances Stacy today at 10:00 a.m.   

Grace Garza aka Grace Valencia, 48, of Pasadena, was originally charged last month with two counts of embezzlement and was released on bond. She is expected to appear again in court on these charges in the near future.

Guajardo is alleged to have committed embezzlement of $1,154,876 and three counts of making false entries into the books and records of a federal credit union between at least 2010 and 2018. The indictment alleges Garza committed two counts of embezzlement – the $1,154,876 along with Guajardo as well as a separate embezzlement of $110,000.     

If convicted of any of the charges, each faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a possible $1 million fine.   

The FBI conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Belinda Beek is prosecuting the case.

An indictment is a formal accusation of criminal conduct, not evidence.A defendant is presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.