After a psychiatrist said Patty Lynn Mavrakis doesn’t have any mental diseases that would prevent her from knowing what she’s doing, she pleaded guilty to wire fraud in stealing $340,000 from the credit union where she worked.
Mavrakis entered the plea Wednesday in federal court after U.S. District Judge Marilyn Horan held a competency hearing and determined she was good to go.
She had backed out of the plea in January at the last minute so she could have a mental health exam.
Mavrakis, 65, of Belle Vernon, had been the manager of Valley 1st Community Federal Credit Union.
A federal grand jury indicted her in 2021 on counts of embezzlement, wire fraud and setting a fire to hide the thefts.
She entered the plea to the wire fraud count only, but under the law the other counts can be used against her at sentencing.
On Labor Day, Sept. 5, 2016, the credit union office was closed, but Mavrakis went in, accessed the safe and left with several boxes, one of which contained cash from the safe.
The next day she came in before anyone else and staged a fire in the safe.
She told her boss and others that the blaze was started by an electrical spark from the safe’s fire alarm.
On Sept. 7, she contacted the credit union’s insurance carrier to file a claim for the money, blaming the loss on the fire. She sent in a proof of loss form, which she signed, and the insurance carrier paid the claim.
The FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives later determined that she set the fire and stole the money.
Judge Horan will sentence her in the fall.
Torsten covers the courts for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, but he's currently on strike. Reach him at jtorsteno@gmail.com.
