Former credit union manager sentenced to 3 years in prison

A former manager of a credit union branch has been sentenced to three years in prison and been ordered to pay $381,400 in restitution after pleading guilty to two counts of bank fraud.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana, Teresa Palmer, 55, of Columbus carried out hundreds of unauthorized transactions between January 2021 and December 2022, targeting credit union customers who were elderly or unable to regularly monitor their finances.

Palmer had originally been indicted on four counts of bank fraud last year, but court records show that two of those charges were dismissed. Palmer agreed to plead guilty to the other two charges. The sentencing took place Aug. 4, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced it Wednesday.

From 2014 through December 2022, Palmer worked in Columbus as the branch manager of a credit union identified only as “Credit Union 1.” (This identifier does not refer to an actual credit union named Credit Union 1. That organization is based in the Chicago area and has a presence in northwest Indiana.)

An internet search indicates that Palmer worked for Columbus, Indiana-based Centra Credit Union. IBJ reached out to Centra for comment but did not receive an immediate response.

Palmer’s attorney, federal public defender Dominic Martin, did not immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment.

(The indictment against Palmer, which was unsealed in July 2025, said that she had worked for the credit union’s Indianapolis branch, 4562 N. Shadeland Ave., from 2014 until December 2022. The plea agreement, filed in March of this year, said she worked at a Columbus branch.)

The credit union terminated Palmer after discovering that she had forged customer signatures on banking documents, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. The credit union’s internal investigation revealed that Palmer had stolen from four customer accounts by making unauthorized cash withdrawals and fraudulently issuing cashier’s checks, forging signatures on those checks and keeping the cash for herself, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

“Palmer’s crimes threw these victims’ lives into turmoil, leaving them confused and unaware of why their hard‑earned savings were disappearing,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Tom Wheeler said in a prepared statement. “Elder fraud is a profoundly evil and calculated crime, driven by greed at the expense of those least able to defend themselves. This office will continue to pursue justice for victims who are targeted because of their age, incapacity, or dependence on others.”

The FBI investigated the case.

Chartered in 1940 as the Cummins Employees Federal Credit Union, the credit union changed its name to Centra in 1995. The credit union currently has more than $2 billion in assets, more than 180,000 members and 28 locations in Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina and New York.