A 50-year-old man pleaded not guilty Friday to joining with his girlfriend in a scheme to defraud the Huntington Beach City Employees Credit Union out of $331,171.
Matthew Ryan Mitchell, who moved out of California and now lives in Virginia, was charged with 19 felonies including grand theft by embezzlement, grand theft by employee, money laundering, identity theft, and forgery with sentencing enhancements for aggravated white collar crime between $100,000 to $500,000 and property damage over $200,000, according to court records.
Co-defendant Karli Alicia Aubry, 45, faces the same charges, but pleaded not guilty on June 3. She is next due in court at the West Justice Center in Westminster on Oct. 13.
According to a declaration from Huntington Beach Police Department Detective K. Kesler, Aubry, while working for the credit union, “conspired with her boyfriend (Mitchell) to commit fraud. Specifically, the defendants obtained three fraudulent loans … totaling $331,171.51.”
Aubry allegedly forged signatures and an appraisal to get a home equity line of credit for her and Mitchell that amounted to $265,000 for a residence in Corona, Kesler said.
“The legitimate appraisal of the residence was for $354,500 but was altered to $534,500 in order to approve the larger (home equity line of credit) amount,” Kesler said.
“Upon the sale of that residence in June 2018, with loan amounts outstanding, the credit union should have received payoff from the sale, however, the defendants forged a `substitution of trustee and full reconveyance’ form to show the loan had been paid off prior to the sale and filed the fraudulent documents with the county of Riverside. The loss to the credit union associated with the fraudulent (home equity line of credit) loan is $249,955.22.”
The two allegedly got a $40,356.81 vehicle loan as well through fraud and they did not buy the Ford150, Kesler alleged. The couple obtained another vehicle loan for $40,860.48, but they submitted fraudulent information and did not acquire the Chevrolet Suburban, Kesler said.
Aubry listed a vehicle identification number registered to the vehicle of another city employee, Kesler said.