It was right there on the manager's calendar of things to do that day:

"Fix Vault Total."

But Tammy L. Margucci, a branch manager of the LANCO Federal Credit Union in Mount Joy, apparently never got around to "fixing" the recorded vault total, police said, charging her with stealing $27,300 over a three-month period.

Margucci, 34, of 2003 Shady Oak Drive, Mount Joy, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with theft by Northwest Regional Police Lt. Carl Steinhart.

When she was questioned by Steinhart, according to court documents, Margucci confessed to stealing the money, telling police she used it "to pay off a credit card and start her acting career."

Police explained that Margucci was one of three employees at the credit union at 2024 W. Main St., Mount Joy.

After Thanksgiving, according to court documents, while Margucci was on vacation, her colleagues needed to get into the vault for cash to fill the tellers' drawers.

But when they counted the money on Dec. 1, police said, they came up $27,300 short.

The employees contacted management, which immediately came in and counted the money.

They, too, found the vault contained $27,300 less than it should have, according to court documents.

The credit union executives went back over the records and discovered the money was last counted Nov. 18 by Margucci, who also forged one of the teller's initials as helping her count the money.

"A notation on Margucci's desk calendar for Nov. 26, 2008," according to court documents, that police determined was in Margucci's handwriting, read, " 'Fix Vault Total.' "

The following Monday, Dec. 8, Barbara Fortney, the credit union's chief executive officer, was waiting for Margucci when she came to work, according to the affidavit.

Fortney gave Margucci a chance to count the money, according to the affidavit, but told police Margucci "purposefully miscounted the (money in) the vault by saying there was more money in the bundles than there really was."

When the other employees confronted Margucci about "her attempt to make it look like there was more money," according to court documents, Margucci told them, "'I'm just trying to cover my butt, I'm going to lose my job over this."'

Fortney contacted police, telling them she knew that Margucci had refinanced her Jeep for about $10,000, and then secured another loan over the summer months for an additional $10,000, according to the affidavit.

Additionally, according to the affidavit, Margucci made a deposit of $7,500 in October, but a security video did not record her putting any money in the bank.

Co-workers told police they knew Margucci was working a second job and putting large sums of money into projects with a film company, in hopes of starting an acting career, in addition to investing in her boyfriend's record, according to the affidavit.

When Steinhart questioned Margucci, he said she "admitted taking all the money."

The money was taken between September and Nov. 26, 2008, police said.

When police confronted her, according to the affidavit, Margucci admitted taking the money "and using it to help her career as an actor and to pay for photo shoots and press kits. (Margucci) also told police she used the money to pay a $7,000 credit card balance."

She also admitted forging her co-worker's initials, police said, and making the notation on her calendar.

Margucci, the detective noted, "said she was sorry and felt badly and wanted to start to pay off the debt as soon as possible," and that no one else was involved in the theft.

She was arraigned before District Judge Jayne Duncan and released on her own recognizance in lieu of $10,000 bail pending a preliminary hearing.


Staff writer Janet Kelley can be reached at jkelley@LNPnews.com or 481-6026.