A WEAVER OF TALES
For those who don't know, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. is a gifted storyteller. When confronted with allegations that implicate him in violations of credit union policies or state and federal laws, he feigns ignorance and instantaneously begins weaving a fanciful story which always identifies a scapegoat. To Charles R. Wiggington,. Sr., everyone is expendable.
In March 2007, former Director, David L. Davidson, received an anonymously written letter which exposed now former Assistant Vice President, Liz Campos of kiting. The letter included evidence showing that Mrs. Campos had incurred more than 25 individual NSF incidents to her checking account during the months of September and October 2016.
Before discovery of the federal offense she committed, Mrs. Campos had served as Branch Manager of Priority one Credit Union's Burbank branch. Following announcement that Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. was to succeed William E. Harris as President of the credit union, Mrs. Campos was contacted by the President and informed that she was to be promoted to the newly created position of AVP. Though Mr. Wiggington was not slated to begin in his new capacity until January 1, 2007, during the months of October, November and December, Mrs. Campos would spend four days a week at the South Pasadena branch, meeting with Mr. Wiggington in his office to plan his new corporate "restructuring."
It is customary in most business that prior to promoting an employee, a careful evaluation of their competencies, performance and behaviors be conducted. Inclusive in any evaluation, is confirming that that the employee has complied to policies and procedures. At no time is this more important than when preparing to promote a person in a managerial or executive capacity. Despite having incurred more than 25 NSF incidents during the months of September and October 2006, the President deemed it prudent to promote her, a position that took effect on January 1, 2007.
We have to point out that on the dates each violation occurred, Charles R. Wiggington Sr, was Vice President of Operations. What's more, one of his responsibilities was to review all accounts belonging to employees who had overdrawn their account balances. Furthermore, NSF fees incurred by employees could not be reversed without his authorization. So how could Charles R. Wiggington., Sr. have approved the reversal of 25 separate NSF events during the months of September and October 2006 and still, promoted Mrs. Campos to the post of AVP, effective January 1, 2007?
When the credit union's attorney ordered that an audit of Mrs. Campos checking account records be started, President Wiggington exclaimed, “I was not the CEO at the time the kiting was committed.” No he wasn't, he was the Vice President of Operations.
So was President Wiggington merely suffering from a bout of amnesia? In October 2006, the President entered the South Pasadena lounge room and in the presence of several employees, informed Vice President of Human Resources, Rodger Smock, that he was going to have to speak to Mrs. Campos about her continual problem of overdrawing her account. Evidently, he knew she was abusing her checking account privileges. .
In March of 2007, the President was contacted by William Adler, Esq, the credit union’s attorney, and informed about the letter which had been mailed to Director, David Davidson, and the allegations in contained. The president denied all knowledge of Mrs. Campos abuses but was ordered by the attorney to conduct an audit of Mrs. Campos' checking account. Following his conversation with Mr. Adler, the President Rodger Smock and advised him about what he had been told. He also called o Diedra Harris-Brooks, the Board's Chair, though the two were more concerned with finding out who wrote the letter than investigating the abuses. During their exchange, they concluded that Mr. Davidson should have given the letter to the Board of Directors and not submitted it to Mr. Adler, the credit union attorney. So did Mr. Davidson, err?
- Mrs. Harris-Brooks is a retired postal worker. Though she alleges to be a marketing expert she is nonetheless not an attorney and certainly not qualified to investigate any violation of federal law.
- Director, O. Glen Saffold, is employed by the United States Postal Service and supervises postal clerks. He also studied law but has never succeeded in passing the state's bar examination.
- Director Thomas Gather is also a retiree of the United States Postal Service.
Its quite obvious that none of the Directors possess the education or experience to oversee investigation of a federal offense. Furthermore, the President and Mrs. Harris-Brooks decided to publicly chastise Mr. Davidson. During a May 2007 Board meeting, Mrs. Harris-Brooks issued a verbal warning to Mr. Davidson that he was never to again deliver any letter exposing any officer of the credit union of illegal activities without first conferring with the Board.
What is illogical in Mrs. Harris-Brooks' warning is that Attorney Adler ordered the appropriate steps to respond to the abuses Mrs. Campos was alleged to have committed. Despite the reasonableness of Mr. Davidson's decision and the subsequent orders given by the attorney, Mrs. Harris-Brooks chose to vilify Mr. Davidson who by the way, was White.
In 2008, President Wiggington was accused of sexually harassing a former employees. An investigation conducted by EXTTI, Inc. gathered sufficient evidence proving the President had indeed sexually harassed the former employee. In spite of the number of statements compiled by the investigator and the investigator's own recommendation that Charles R. Wiggington,. Sr. be terminated, Mrs. Harris-Brooks concluded that in her opinion, sexual harassment as defined under federal law, never occurred. The President was promptly reinstated and the victim was informed she had no case.
With Mrs. Harris-Brooks' history of squashing evidence why would any allegations leveled against an officer of the credit union ever be brought to her attention for investigation?
Since 2007, the President has often publicly stated that there is a group of unnamed employees who are conspiring to displace him. According to the President, their motivation is that “These people are jealous of me because of what I have achieved.”
Its incredulous that Mrs. Harris-Brooks chose to focus on who exposed Mrs. Campos of kiting rather than directing her attention on the fact a violation of federal law had been committed. What's more, during their conversation, Mrs. Harris-Brooks asked if Mike Lee, the owner of Allied Asset Management, the credit union's contracted collection agent, might have written the letter. The President replied that Mr. Lee could have written the letter.
The President also suggested the letter could have been written by Aaron Cavazos, the former AVP of Lending or by the former Director of Marketing. We doubt that the combined brain power of the President and Board Chair will ever uncover who authored the anonymous letter. After all isn't the point of any crime, trying to discover who exposed it?
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