A former Monessen credit union manager charged with embezzling $340,000 and setting a fire to cover her tracks was supposed to plead guilty Thursday but backed out at the last minute.
Instead, a judge ordered that a psychiatrist evaluate Patty Lynn Mavrakis to see if she’s competent to know what she’s doing.
Robert Wettstein, M.D., will examine her and issue a report.
Mavrakis, who is in her mid-60s, was indicted in 2021 on counts of embezzlement from a federal credit union, wire fraud and torching a safe to hide her thefts.
She was set to enter a guilty plea on Thursday before U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan but changed her mind.
Mavrakis, who lives in Belle Vernon, had been the branch manager for Valley 1st Community Federal Credit Union.
In the fall of 2016, she stole $340,000 from the safe for her own use, according to a federal grand jury.
To conceal her actions, she started a fire in the safe, federal agents said. She then claimed that the fire destroyed the missing money.
Mavrakis told her boss and others at the credit union that an electrical wire for the safe’s alarm sparked and burned up the money.
After the blaze, she contacted the credit union’s insurance carrier to file a claim for the money, saying the alarm wire sparked.
She also sent a proof of loss form, which she signed and notarized, to the insurance company. The firm paid the claim for the money and for the fire damage.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives determined that Mavrakis lit the fire, according to the charges.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
