WASHINGTON–The chief of staff to the longest-serving member of the U.S. House of Representatives has pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property after funds were mistakenly deposited into her credit union account.
Investigators said Cynthia Martin, a top aide to Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), had initially refused to repay $13,000 mistakenly deposited in her savings account at Wright Patman Congressional FCU.
According to court filings, another credit union member had mistakenly routed $16,500 of his direct deposits to Martin’s account. Investigators said Martin was aware of the erroneous deposits, but initially refused to return the money which was deposited into her account every two weeks in conjunction with pay periods. The mistaken deposits continued from May 2013 to September 2015.
Investigators said Martin began transferring money from her savings account to other credit union accounts in 2014 and made a $1,000 withdrawal from one of the credit union’s ATMs. Investigators also said the victim attempted to have the funds returned.
Congressional Federal Credit Union’s policy only allowed the credit union to recover $3,500 of the $16,500 in erroneous deposits from Martin’s account. According to court filings, investigators suspected Martin was aware of the policy and initially declined to turn over the rest of the money.
Court records show Martin pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of receiving stolen and has been ordered to pay restitution.