Can We Talk For A Minute?

Sit down and pour yourself a cup of Coffee…


First look at this story, then when you're finished I want to ask a couple of questions.

PHILADELPHIA -- A woman accused of embezzling more than $1.5 million from a credit union and buying more than 1,500 items, including hundreds of pairs of shoes and a $60,000 swimming pool, has been sentenced to 27 months in prison.

Betty Jean Barachie, 39, of Kunkletown also bought 58 coats, 16 chain saws, a $25,000 John Deere tractor and more than 3,000 books, piling most of the items in her home with the tags still attached, said Dr. George Perovich, an Allentown psychologist. "She was a compulsive shopper and was one of the most extreme cases I'd ever seen."

Barachie acknowledged stealing money from the Northampton-Carbon County Federal Credit Union, where she worked, from 1995 to 2003. She pleaded guilty in October to charges of embezzlement and filing a false federal tax return.

During Tuesday's sentencing, U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno chastised the U.S. attorney's office for failing to prosecute others allegedly involved in looting what was believed to be millions from the credit union, which became insolvent and was forced to close in September 2004.

"You have a small fish here. Where are the big fish? No one else has been charged with a parking ticket in this case," Robreno said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Bernadette McKeon said a grand jury is considering whether additional indictments are appropriate.

Barachie has already begun working to pay back the money she stole by selling her purchases on e-Bay. She's sold 1,000 items so far, bringing in $60,000, defense attorney John Waldron said. Another 500 items are still up for sale.

The judge ordered her to pay $50 a month in restitution while she's in prison and at least $200 a month once she's released.

Can you believe this crap?

So this chick stole OVER ONE AND ONE HALF MILLION DOLLARS from a credit union, while probably clutching a Louis Vuitton handbag and clomping around in some other brand of designer sandals, and she only gets 27 MONTHS of jail time?

Let’s see …$1.5 Million, divided by 27 months….

Gee whiz…that comes out to $55,555.56 per month.

I don’t know about you, but that rate of pay is starting to look a little attractive to ME.

In addition, she gets the equivalent of two new coats per month in the big house….

And one new chainsaw for every two months of time served…I like that.

Once she gets out of the slammer she can rush home and mow the grass around her $60,000 pool with the John Deere.

And, finally, where else can you get a $1.5 million dollar loan for $200 per month?

I would REALLY like those easy payment terms.

OK folks, all kidding aside, this is a perfect example of the complete bullshit being handed out by the US court system today.

If this lady had walked into the exact same credit union with a shotgun and a hand grenade and demanded cash, she would possibly gotten away with $10,000 or $20,000 MAXIMUM.

Not $1.5 million—banks and credit unions don’t keep that kind of cash on hand.

BUT, under those circumstances, this robbing thieving bitch would be doing ten to twenty YEARS, not a measly 27 MONTHS.

So I have to ask, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?

And like the “Defendant’s” attorney, I have to ask…WHERE ARE THE OTHER PROSECUTIONS?

How in the hell can there be enough fraud and embezzlement that could actually cause the Credit Union to have to close it’s doors?

They actually stole enough money to SHUT IT DOWN?

After all, as far as I know you can’t run out with your pockets full of pennies and quarters and start your own Credit Union, right? Credit unions are supposed to be worth tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars—money collected from regular citizens like me and you.

After seeing crap like this, how many of you out there want more government, when those in our existing oversized government are so busy turning their heads?

Now you'll have to excuse me, because I have to walk outside and scream...