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PA mother, son admit $14M NY credit union fraud

 A mother and son from Pennsylvania admit they ran an elaborate scam to get $14 million in bogus loans from a New York teacher's credit union.

Richard Hartunian (hahr-TOO'-nee-yihn), the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District in New York, says Scott Lonzinski of Clifford Township and his mother, 46-year-old Laura Conarton of Great Bend, pleaded guilty to felony bank fraud.

Conarton and her 32-year-old son say that between July 2009 and February 2011, they created phony documents, forged signatures and invented fictitious people to get 10 loans from the Broom County Teacher's Federal Credit Union.

They used the money to finance Lonzinski's construction business, bought vehicles, remodeled Lonzinski's house and paid other expenses.

They each face up to 30 years in prison and a fine up to $1 million when they are sentenced in December.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Dave Lucas is WAMC’s Capital Region Bureau Chief. Born and raised in Albany, he’s been involved in nearly every aspect of local radio since 1981. Before joining WAMC, Dave was a reporter and anchor at WGY in Schenectady. Prior to that he hosted talk shows on WYJB and WROW, including the 1999 series of overnight radio broadcasts tracking the JonBenet Ramsey murder case with a cast of callers and characters from all over the world via the internet. In 2012, Dave received a Communicator Award of Distinction for his WAMC news story "Fail: The NYS Flood Panel," which explores whether the damage from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee could have been prevented or at least curbed. Dave began his radio career as a “morning personality” at WABY in Albany.