MISSOULA — A former Missoula credit union employee who admitted to embezzling approximately $389,000 from the vault by swapping real money with fake funds has been sentenced to prison.
Acting U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Racicot announced Edward Arthur Nurse, 35, of Missoula was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison, to be followed by five years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $389,000 restitution.
Nurse pleaded guilty in October 2024 to an indictment charging him with theft from a credit union.
Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Nurse embezzled from Park Side Credit Union in Missoula from about July 2023 to June 2024.
An employee found that $340,000 in cash in the credit union’s vault had been replaced with fake funds from a company that provides fake currency as props for movies and entertainment productions in June 2024.
Nurse used his position as “team lead” for the vault to swap the credit union’s cash with fake money he purchased specifically for this purpose, according to a news release.
Furthermore, prosecutors alleged Nurse hid his conduct from security cameras, auditors and his colleagues by putting real money at the front and back of bundles of fake money.
Once the credit union discovered the thefts, Nurse claimed to an FBI special agent that he did not usually carry much cash and, aside from a vacation to Las Vegas he had not made any recent large purchases or cash deposits.
However, records show that Nurse made at least nine cash deposits of over $10,000 each in 2024 into his personal account.
The investigation also determined that during the first six months of 2024, Nurse had purchased $410,000 in fake currency from a prop money company.
The credit union was later informed that approximately $50,000 in fake money had been received by the Federal Reserve in July 2024. Those funds were returned and determined to be fake bills from the prop money company.
U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided over the sentencing. The court also sentenced Nurse to six months of home confinement and to perform 600 hours of community service. The court allowed Nurse to self-report to prison.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case which was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Missoula Police Department.
