Tewksbury Federal Credit Union CEO Placed On Leave

TEWKSBURY, MA -- The board of directors for the Tewksbury Credit Union confirmed Friday that it had placed Chief Executive Shelley Holden on leave after questions were raised about irregularities how she handled certain accounts. Last week Tewksbury Patch reported that a contract employee had alleged that Holden had transferred large sums of money into his account and then transferred the money into the account of her boyfriend.

Holden has not responded to voice mail messages. On Friday, the board of the credit union issued a statement saying it was cooperating with an investigation by the National Credit Union Administration and had hired accounting and auditing firm to perform a forensic audit of the accounts in question, and a review of the credit union’s practices and procedures.

"In early December 2017, the Board of Directors of Tewksbury Federal Credit Union became aware of irregularities involving several accounts, including those held by the Chief Executive Officer and some of her personal acquaintances. The Board retained an accounting and auditing firm to investigate," the statement said. "Once the Board has reviewed the auditor's final report and recommendations, it will take appropriate action."

As first reported by Tewksbury Patch, Rod Morrison, who does business for credit unions under the name Jack Horowitz, said that late last year Holden told him she had made transfers into his account and had changed the mailing address on the account to have statements delivered directly to her.

Horowitz lives in Illinois but contracts with credit unions throughout the country to handle collections of delinquent accounts. He said he routinely opens accounts at the credit unions he works with, but had not used his account at Tewksbury Federal in several years. He said Holden made deposits for $12,000 and $16,000 into his accounts and then transferred the money out of his account into the account of Michael Stimpson.

Holden did not respond to messages left on her work voice mail. Residential phone numbers for Stimpson and Holden have been disconnected. Holden is the daughter of Kenneth W. "Bunky" Holden, a popular captain in the Tewksbury Fire Department who founded the credit union in 1960. Kenneth Holden died in October.

"I don't know where the money came from, but she told me [late last year] that she had transferred it to" Stimpson, Horowitz said. "I needed to say something as other people with accounts at the credit union may want to check their accounts."

Stimpson pleaded guilty to second degree murder in June 1979 in the 1978 beating death of a John McCann, 35, of Lowell, with his brother, Kenneth Stimpson. Police speculated the brothers had picked up McCann, who had developmental disabilities, while he was hitchhiking on the Lowell Connector thinking he may have drugs. When they discovered he did not have drugs, they drove him down a dirt road in Billerica and beat him to death.

When Stimpson was paroled eight years ago, he began working with Horowitz to clean up his delinquent account with the credit union. During his regular visits to the credit union to make payments, he met Holden and the two began dating, Horowitz said. Despite his poor credit history, Horowitz said, the credit union gave Stimpson a mortgage for property in Maine and a loan to purchase a motorcycle.

Horowitz said he had made reports to both the Tewksbury Police Department and the Middlesex District Attorney's office. Tewksbury Police Detective Lt. Ryan Columbus said the department had not received a report from Horowitz but there had "been something from another agency." He declined to identify which agency, but said the Tewksbury Police Department had been told by that agency the matter did not involve criminal activity.

When he started working for the Tewksbury Federal Credit Union eight years ago, Horowitz was paid for each account he worked on and earned as much as $350,000 per year. He has since renegotiated his contract with the credit union and now collects a flat retainer of $40,000 per year.

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Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).