Employees and board members wept in disbelief and anger as they expressed the heart-breaking betrayal they felt after learning the longtime CEO they trusted and admired stole more than $1.9 million from their credit union’s vault and stuffed the cash in her purse 433 separate times over 17 years.

Kathryn Sue Simmerman, the former manager of the $17.2 million Shoreline Federal Credit Union, was sentenced to six and a half years in federal prison by U.S. District Court Judge Robert Holmes Bell in Grand Rapids, Mich., Monday. He also ordered her to pay $1.9 million in restitution.

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