Westport residents formerly employed at Credit Union, charged with embezzlement

Two Westport Residents were arrested today on embezzlement charges.

Westport Police Detective Robert Rebello concluded two investigations today with the arrest of two individuals. Suzanne Nowicki, 46 of 42 Hemlock Street, Westport was arrested and charged with embezzlement and Rachel Gaudreau, 45 of 985 State Road, Westport was charged with forgery, uttering and embezzlement.

The victim in both cases was the Westport Federal Credit Union, but the incidents were not related.

According to Rebello, Nowicki had worked at the Westport Federal Credit Union from 2001 until 2018. It’s reported she allegedly altered transactions in her own account for several years. A forensic audit was requested by the Board of Directors of the Westport Federal Credit Union which directed Marcum Advisory and Consulting to conduct the audit. The audit looked at transactions occurring from 2014 to 2018. During that time, it is alleged Nowicki embezzled over $19,000 dollars. While speaking with investigators, Nowicki stated she had fallen on hard times financially and “screwed up.”

Rebello stated that Gaudreau had worked at the Westport Federal Credit Union from 1995 until 2016. It’s reported she allegedly stole a bank check in excess of $7500, forged the check along with the signature of another employee, then submitted the check to her credit card company to pay her bill. The incident was revealed when bank staff discovered they had no record of the fraudulent check and contacted their bank to confirm. Bank records showed Gaudreau had deleted a second bank check which was made out for the exact same amount, thereby masking the fraudulent check.

Response from a search warrant revealed Gaudreau had submitted the fraudulent check to Visa. Gaudreau told investigators she had no recollection of the fraudulent bank check and had processed many bank checks during her tenure at the Westport Federal Credit Union.

Both women were arraigned in Fall River District Court on the aforementioned charges.