VIOLATING FEDERAL LAW
Promoting an Officer Who Violated Federal Law
As we've written about in several previous posts, in March 2007, an unsigned letter was mailed to the home of then Board Director, David L. Davidson, which exposed then AVP, Liz Campos, of writing more than 24 personal checks and making each out in monetary amounts exceeding her checking account balance. The incidents all occurred during the months of September 2006 through January 2007. Despite the immense number of NSF incidents occurring during a two-month period, in October 2006, then Vice President of Operations, Charles R. Wiggington,.Sr. announced that he was promoting Mrs. Campos to the post of AVP which would become effective on January 1, 2007, the same date Mr. Wiggington was to begin his appointment as President.
The incident was only the first of what would become a long list well-documented business blunders and scandals that would wrack the credit union and establish the President's horrendous public reputation.
On January 1, 2007, the President activated his new shiny and expensive AVP sector made up of former Burbank Branch Manager, Liz Campos; former Van Nuys Branch Manager, Sylvia Perez; former Director of Lending, Aaron Cavazos; and Redlands Branch Manager, Jodi Hurst. The people he promoted to be AVP's had been selected by the President in October 2006, immediately after the Board of Directors announced that Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. would be successor to President and CEO, William E. Harris, who was scheduled to retire on December 31, 2006.
In October 2006, just a few days after his appointment was announced, Mr. Wiggington disclosed that Mrs. Campos and Mrs. Perez had been selected by him to serve has his first two AVP's. However, a week after announcing the promotions of Mrs. Campos and Mrs. Perez, the President informed then Director of Human Resources, Rodger Smock, while the men stood in the South Pasadena lounge room, that Mrs. Campos had overdrawn her credit union checking numerous times and laughingly said, he was "probably" going to have to talk to her.
In March 2007, just 4 months after being promoted to the post of AVP, someone wrote an anonymous letter and mailed it to Board Director, Dave Davidson, in which they expose in great detail the more than 24 individual NSF incidents occurring on Mrs. Campos' Priority One checking account during the months of September and October 2006.
The Director delivered the letter to the credit union's attorney, William Adler, who in turn, called Board Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks, ordering an investigation of Mrs. Campos' credit union accounts.
An investigation was initiated and an audit performed by in-house auditor, Sonny Pinot. The investigation gathered evidence that Mrs. Campos had been kiting, which is a violation of federal law. Mrs. Campos had written 'bad checks" from checking accounts opened at three different institutions, including Priority One. Though the violation of federal law should have resulted in termination, arrest and prosecution of Mrs. Campos, she was instead terminating.
The President was incensed because he had been forced to terminate her employment. He swore quite publicly that he would find out who wrote the anonymous letter but seemed completely unconcerned by the fact that Mrs. Campos violated federal law.
The investigation also discovered that the NSF fees incurred by the more than 25 incidents were all reversed. The President said the violations occurred before he was appointed President and thus had not knowledge of the free reversals, stating that the Member Services Department staff mistakenly reversed the fees for each incident. The key flaw with his defense is that NSF fees cannot be reversed without authorization of the Vice President of Operations. Subsequently, the more than 24 reversals of NSF fees on Mrs. Campos' checking account could only have been approved by the Vice President of Operations, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. Evidently, the President statements that he had nothing to do with the reversals was an outright lie and one intended to help him escape culpability for an action he committed.
Furthermore, in October 2006, Mr. Wiggington publicly admitted to Rodger Smock, that as going to have to speak to Mrs. Campos about her many checking account abuses revealing that he knew that she was in violation of credit union policy.
During the years of 2004 through 2006, then Vice President, Charles R. Wiggington, Sr., ordered the termination of two employees he alleged had committed account abuses, none which rose to the level of gravity attained by Mrs. Campos. In one incident, an employee was terminated for entering adjustment to her credit union account while in a second incident, an employee was terminated when an investigation revealed he reversed an NSF fee for a co-workers account.
The President is more than a little hypocritical and possesses double standards. Clearly, he enforces policies for some employees while disregards those same policies for issues involving himself and employees he likes.
LIVE BY THE LIE
Charles R. Wiggington., Sr. can't and shouldn't be trusted. When exposed of wrong doing which occurs frequently, he always resorts to the use of lies which are intended to exonerate him and while instead, focusing on his unsuspecting victims.
In 2006, he promoted Liz Campos knowing she abused her credit union checking account privileges more than 24 times during the months of September and October 2006. And though he publicly discussed her account abuses in October 2006, while speaking to Director of Human Resources, Rodger Smock, in the South Pasadena lounge room, he would later lie and deny ever having known that Mrs. Campos abused her checking account privileges.
He also lied when he told the credit union's attorney that he never reversed any of the more than 24 individual NSF fees charged to Mrs. Campos account. In fact, as Vice President of Operations, he was the only person who could have authorized the reversals. Instead, he placed blame on the Member Services Department, stating they reversed the fees not realizing that they should have deferred Mrs. Campos' abuses to him. So what the President wanted people to believe is that for years, Member Services referred all employee accounts that sustained overages to the Vice President of Operations but in September and October 2006, they suddenly forgot that they were to refer Mrs. Campos account to Mr. Wiggington. Is that what he hopes will be believed?
The fact is, he knowingly promoted Mrs. Campos, despite her well-documented history of account abuses. Not only did he promote her, but when the investigation discovered she had kited- a federal offense, he became incensed with the person or persons who wrote and mailed their anonymous letter to Director, David L. Davidson.
Weeks after Mrs. Campos was terminated, the President complained that he had been forced to terminate his hand-picked AVP, revealing has no concept of right or wrong or for that matter, legal or illegal.
THE BLAME GAME
While speaking to the VISA Card Specialist President Wiggington disclosed that the person who composed the anonymous letter was the former Director of Lending. He was 100% wrong.
We know who wrote the letter and it wasn't an officer of the credit union. Evidently, President Wiggington is as bad a detective as he is a President. The President's statement reveals again, that he relies on a fantastical belief system that is rooted in his own twisted imagination. As in the case of the anonymous letter, his conclusion wasn't based on an investigation and obtainment of evidence, it was rooted in what he imagined to be true and unfortunately for Charles R. Wiggington, Sr. his conclusion was off target............. again.
What the President failed to mention while speaking to the VISA Card Specialist while in the presence of 5 employees of the Loan Department is that during the investigation of Mr. Campos, he insisted he never knew she abused her checking account which of course was a lie.
He also never told the VISA Card Specialist that he accused the Member Services Department of reversing each and every NSF fee incurred by Mrs. Campos when he, the Vice President of Operations, was the only person authorized to reverse NSF fees incurred by Priority One employees.
Here are the contents of the anonymous letter sent to Director, Mr. Davidson:
March 1, 2007
Dear Mr. Davidson:
When an employee is hired, a credit report is ordered as part of their background check. One of the requirements of being an ambassador is their credit standing. Why then is financial responsibility ignored when promoting a person to the position of assistant vice president?
In 2007, Mr. Wiggington promoted Liz Campos from branch manager to assistant VP even though he knows she had continually abused her checking account several times from 9-06 to 1-07.
Here are the dates and amounts she overdrawn activity appears in her checking account.
9-05-06 -29.00
9-05-06 -68.72
9-05-06 -137.44
9-06-06 -137.02
9-20-06 -98.71
9-21-06 -89.73
9-29-06 -1.25
10-02-06 -25.95
10-03-06 -20.89
10-03-06 -11.41
10-03-06 -40.41
10-06-06 -29.00
10-17-06 -232.00
10-17-06 -261.00
10-18-06 -260.63
10-18-06 -910.63
10-19-06 -660.17
11-03-06 -29.00
11-13-06 -29.00
11-13-06 -58.00
11-13-06 -87.00
11-14-06 -86.91
11-14-06 -80.37
11-14-06 -109.37
11-14-06 -138.37
11-20-06 -29.00
11-21-06 -18.46
11-21-06 -47.46
11-21-06 -77.45
11-28-06 -8.61
11-29-06 -4.27
11-29-06 -304.27
12-12-06 -1.25
12-12-06 -581.25
12-12-06 -124.25
12-13-06 -123.34
12-13-06 -263.11
12-18-06 -28.00
12-19-06 -17.24
12-20-06 -28.00
12-26-06 -2.60
12-26-06 -22.10
12-26-06 -40.10
12-28-06 -1360.30
12-28-06 -2236.30
12-28-06 -2256.30
12-28-06 -1663.64
12-28-06 -2256.30
12-29-06 -2144.93
12-29-06 -2173.93
12-29-06 -2296.91
1-2-07 -24.77
1-2-07 -30.25
1-2-07 -59.25
1-2-07 -88.25
1-2-07 -117.25
1-2-07 -146.25
1-2-07 -175.25
1-2-07 -30.25
There are 23 days in total in which account abused occurred. If any other employee had overdrawn their credit union account that many times what would the company have done? Would that employee be promoted to assistant vice president? Mr. Wiggington also sent out a company memo in 2006 telling employees that NSF fees would not be written off. Where are the NSF fees for Mrs. Campos account? Why was she allowed to abuse her account? Are there two sets of rules. 1 for employees and 1 for managers?
Thank you.
The President knew of the abuses being committed by Mrs. Campos. He lied when he said he didn't and he lied when he blamed the Member Services Department's staff of reversing all NSF fees without his authorization.
The fact federal law was violated was inconsequential to the morally and ethically deprived President who vilified the unknown person who exposed Mrs. Campos of violating federal law and focused his efforts to find and punish the whistle blower.
He found yet another victim in the Director of Lending, who he publicly disclosed, was the person who composed the anonymous letter. He was wrong. He can offer no evidence to support his statements except to alluding to an alleged complaint by Mrs. Campos, the woman who kited, in which she allegedly stated that the Director of Marketing wanted to drive her from the credit union. There is no evidence provided by the President proving this to be true. Furthermore, he persecuted the Director of Marketing and finally laid her off based on the far-fetched concoctions of this twisted and undisciplined imagination.
The President's need to be vindictive trumped the fact federal law had been violated by his hand-picked AVP which brings into question the abilities of President Wiggington to responsibly perform required investigations that determine that an employee is qualified to be promoted. Clearly, he didn't protect the employee who was eventually fired. He didn't protect the credit union whose checking account was abused while the AVP was kiting. Does the President even understand that his responsibilities require he protect Credit Union assets, members and employees?
In the meantime, he failed to counsel Mrs. Campos about her checking account abuses. He also ignored those abuses when he chose to promote her to the position of AVP. He also chose to disparage employees of the credit union while speaking to the VISA Card Specialist and he violated confidentiality when he publicly discussed why he terminated the Director of Lending. Clearly, President Wiggington hates policies otherwise why make such a pubic and concerted effort to violate them?
And why has the Board of Directors and more specifically, its Chair, Diedra Harris-Brooks never addressed the President's horrendous behaviors and his obvious violation of the policy governing confidentiality? Furthermore, Mrs. Harris-Brooks reprimanded Director, Mr. Davidson, during a Board Meeting and told him the anonymous letter should have been delivered to the board and never to the credit union's attorney, William Adler. Why? Mrs. Harris-Brooks isn't an attorney. She's a retired postal worker who is clearly unqualified to investigate violations of federal law. Of course, this is the same woman who lead a contingent of three other officers to vote for the reinstatement of the President after evidence was provided that he indeed did sexually harass a former employee.
Kindly Share The Love»»
|
|
|
Tweet | Save on Delicious |
22 comments:
He didn't miss anything. When she was branch manager at Burbank, she always came in at 10 am and left before 3 pm. She was lazy and did not know much. And Wiggington knew this when he promoted her. He knew about her over draws too.
Mr Wiggington has always showed some employees preference. He doesn't care about quality or ability. Look at him. I blame Mr. Harris for trusting him and not having got rid of him.
So who really is to blame for the things which have happened at Priority?
If you are brave enough to speak up, Wigg will go after you until he fires you.
If you don't speak up then you have suffer with the abuses. That is what Wigg brings to Priority One.
The board members do not know anything that is why he speaks like he knows it all. He is arrogant and in his mind believes he is exceptional when in fact he is a failure.
He claims to have played the game and won what he thinks is a BIG prize. The game he played was to kiss up to certain board members and he used to stay late at work to give the appearance that he was actually working when the staff knew that he wasn't doing a thing.
The other thing he did was to LIE, LIE, LIE, and LIE! He lied to the board, he lied to Mr. Harris, he has lied to Mr. Adler, and he lies to his staff. He lies only because he doesn't know how to tell the truth.
If we all had guts like you, John, maybe Wigg would never have been president and maybe a lot of his group, would have been fired long ago. And maybe some of the board would not be there today.
And when Aaron Cavazos was the director, there were employees in the loan department who always coveredd for him. That man did a lot of illegal things but he was protected by a few which allowed him to escape being fired.
When his assistant, Pat loiacano was told that Aaron had instructed an employee to sign loan docs that members had forgotten to sign, she chose not to do a damn thing. In fact she said there was nothing she could do, even though it was illegal!
Many people complained to HR about Aaron Cavazos but HR did not do anything and let Aaron get away with breaking the law and policy.
When Aaron used to take his long 2 and 2 1/2 lunches and Mr. Harris would ask where he had gone to, Pat Loiacano and Georgina Duenas would tell Mr. Harris that he was out on business. HR knew and they chose not to do a thing about it!
When HR and Wigg did things that violated policy no one stepped up! No one!
It seems that a lot of people who read this blog knew that Wigg stole a car from a member. They know that he wanted to get rid of Lynnette. They knew that he was planning to fire Maggie. And he even had plans to get rid of Genny Kirby the manager at worldway branch, but no one did anything.
Hats off to you John, for bringing all of what he has done into the light. We need to have more people like you in this world.
I meant that Aaron took 2-2 1/2 hour lunches
Why hasn't he been fired?
John, yes i remember also when stupid aaron would take his extended lunches patti loiacano and shrek-gina d. would lie to mr. harris by saying that Pillsbury dough boy aaron was @ a business meeting.BULLSHIT!!! Like i have commented in this blog before aaron didn't give a shit about p1cu, it was just a comfortable and perfect place to run his WANNA BE real estate business because stupid MR.WIGGYBRAIN and MR.SMUCK trusted Pillsbury so much. IDIOTS!IDIOTS! after all the times aaron treated her like shit and talked bad about her to the lending staff and to her face, and the dummy would still cover for his fat ass. I hope she has learned her lesson. After the way aaron back stabbed her, i highly suggest Patti Loiacano watch her back with "SHREK"gina d.she is identical to "Pillsbury" aaron. I don't understand it Patti Loiacano is the most knowledgable employee there, but yet so dumb because she covered up for Aaron!!!She could of easily taken his position anytime.I am glad aaron got a kick in the rear, he said his wanna be business was going well when he was out on sick leave...., so why did he want to return to p1cu? Sure Aaron, what luck you had in real estate with the economy going up shit creek!!! Aaron wants people 2 think he has a perfect life, but he doesn't. John, you are KICKING ASS with this blog. Soon Wiggy, Roger, Shrek, & Gema will have their butt kicked by Calif Financial Investigators. GOOD! You go JOHN!!!!!
Charles is evil. There is nothing good in him.
He tried to bring Henry Justice back to Priority One in 2008, after that man stole thousands of dollars from the credit union. We all knew Henry was Wiggington's friend but we never suspected
he would ever do what he did. That's fraud! No one can imagine how much trouble the employees went through for years, having to visit DMV each and every month to get the registrations for each member who bought a car from Justice.
Then Wiggington steals a car from a member. Some of had heard the rumors that he that but didn't know how to prove it.
Before Mr. Harris left he stopped talking to him. Mr. Harris never knew Wiggington for what he is but if it wasn't for Mr. Harris Wiggington would never have remained employed at the credit union.
Then he promotes Liz Campos who was not only a lazy and bad employee, but she was kiting. He knew it because I heard him talk about before he named her AVP.
He promotes Aaron even though he knew first hand that employees had filed so many complaints about Aaron. Everyone knew Aaron was lazy. Everyone knew he would back stab anyone who got in his way. And everyone knew he let Georgina Duenas get away with anything she wanted. In 2008, she wrote a bad check and had her friend remove the hold. The check bounced and she got in trouble. But Aaron made up a story which saved her job and that of her friend, Gema. Wiggington and HR knew and they allowed it.
The manager of the Van Nuys office shows the company that banking rules are being violated and they FIRE HIM!
Maggie Rios is abused and then FIRED after Wiggington makes up story after story about her.
He goes after Kim but I used to remember him offering to whip her ass. He would do it in the loan department, in the lounge room, in member services, at Charlies Trio and at Carmines.
He is the lowest kind of person you would nevr want to work for you. They should do to him what he has done to so many people.
How could he say he didn't know she was kiting? And they believed him?
I REMEMBER THE DAY HENRY JUSTICE WENT TO GO PAY A VISIT TO MR. WIGGY BRAIN. ALL OF US IN THE LOAN DEPT. WERE BAFFLED BECAUSE OF MR. HENRY'S PRESENCE. THE LOAN DEPT STAFF HAD A LITTLE POW WOW, WE WERE WONDERING WHY THIS MAN WHO STOLE FROM THE C.U.WOULD BE THERE TO SEE WIGGYBRAIN? WE FELT THE C.U. WAS IN DANGER BECAUSE OF HIS ODD VISIT.HENRY JUSTICE WAS WAITING IN THE LOAN DEPT. TO SEE MR. WIGGYBRAIN...AS SOON AS WIGGYBRAIN ENTERED THE LOAN DEPT AND INVITED HENRY TO HIS OFFICE THEY HUGGED EACHOTHER LIKE IF THEY HAD THIS BROTHERLY LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER, EVERYONE KNOWS HOW LOUD WIGGYS COULD BE TOO. I HEARD MR. WIGGY SAY "HOW U DOIN MAAANNN, NICE TO SEE YOU", AS HE TOOK HIM INTO HIS OFFICE. CHARLES HAD HENRY IN HIS OFFICE FOR APPROXIMATELY 3 HOURS, THEN THEY BOTH LEFT TO LUNCH TOGETHER AND RETURNED APPROX 2-3 HRS LATER.THE STAFF WAS WONDERING WHY SUCH A HAPPY AND EXTENDED VISIT?
THIS WAS THE FIRST TIME HENRY HAD GONE TO PAY A VISIT SINCE HE STOLE FROM THE CU. WHAT IS STRANGE IS,WHY DOES HENRY SHOW UP NOW THAT MR. HARRIS HAS LEFT THE C.U.? NOW THAT WIGGY RUNS THE SHOW HENRY PAYS A VISIT! WIGGYS INVITED HIM. WHY? I DON'T KNOW, BUT WE SHALL SEE. EVERYONE AT THE CU NEEDS TO BE ALERT! OPEN YOUR EARS AND EYES. WIGGLES IS AN EVIL PERSON.HE IS A BACKSTABBER AND A LIER!!!HE NEEDS TO BE REMOVED.
i am anxiously waiting for mr. charles to fess up to some of these crimes he has commited. we all know he is aware of this blog.but see, he will not fess up, he will use one lie to cover another.or he will say "oh someone around here doesn't like me".or he will say "someone around here is starting rumors about me". Charles, "SHUT UP"!!! soon you will "TELL IT TO THE JUDGE"!!!you are going down for your crimes along with some of your employees. all of this information are nothing but FACTS! FACTS! FACTS! Mr. Wiggles haven't you ever heard "what is on black and white (paper) is legal and could be used against you in a court of law"???? Yes, i think u have. well there is a lot of legal docs against you!!!!and they do not lie. Charles, u have gone too far with all of your illegal activities and now u will have to pay!! it is about time. you will soon be legally considered a "criminal"along with your FLAKEYPEEEON employees!!!!!
Wiggington has fired people who he concluded violated policy but he has actually violated the law and seems unaware that he should have been fired. What kind of a man is he?
Charles always chooses the type of people to promote that he knows are going to do anything he wants even if its illegal.
He chose Liz knowing she was overdrawn. When the investigation took place he placed the blame on member service because telling the board that they had overlooked procedure. It was a lie and like, Alan Santos, he found someone else to blame for what he did.
He knew Aaron was the worst but he promoted him and gave him a raise. He did that because he though Aaron would stand by him but in the end both of them turned against each other. In fact when Charles was named successor to Mr Harris, Aaron told some of us that the board made a big mistake choosing Charles because Charles is lazy and a liar. This was in 2006 months before Charles started damaging the credit union.
As for Patti Loiacano. She is smart but a coward. She will backstab any employee as long as she looks good. She is the one with the knowledge. When Aaron was there, she was the one who knew everything about lending not him. Now is the most knowledgeable person left but she will still lie and backstab just so that no one ever knows that she makes mistakes. She also does not like to share information. She is so insecure. She will be kind to you but if Wiggington gets angry at you, she turns against you quickly.
And Rodger is another one who will do wrong because he is too afraid to do what's right. So employees suffer.
Wiggington should be fired ASAP.
Patti should be written up.
And Rodger should be written up or suspended.
Except for Mrs Hurst, the otherAVP's should also lose their titles and be bumped back down to branch managers or FSR's. They are all unqualified to serve as AVP's. You want to save money, get rid of them. You don't need them and Wiggington knows this but its another of his MISTAKES!
"Egotism is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity."
Hi, this question goes to Charles, Roger, Patti Loiacano, Gina, Gema, Mike Lee, Aaron C., Liz Campos. * When are you going to answer some of these questions that we have asked you on this blog???
Yes, about your illegal activities???
None of you have nothing to say???
When a person is not guilty, you would think they would stand their ground by entering a comment on this blog. If you are not guilty and all of this information is false, then step up to the plate. We are all interested in what you have to say!!!
I had not thought about it, but Patti Loiacano is also a problem. She is probably the one person at Priority who actually understands lending.
She has a brain and knowledge. The department survived because of her abilities not Charles, not Aaron or even Georgina (don't get me started on Georgina, that woman is a mess).
Aaron had no sales or people skills. He was not much of a man and so vindictive going after people who crossed him, even when they did nothing wrong. He did not know how to direct the department. He was lazy and he used to return from lunch drunk. Mr. Wiggington knew it, Mr. Smock knew it, and his assistant, Patti, knew it but she and Georgina covered for him. In life you can do the right thing or you can do the wrong thing. Charles, Rodger, Patti and Georgina only how to do what is wrong. Its who they are and they can't change it.
Patti is valuable and she is even necessary because the loan department might not succeed without her. But her biggest flaw is her character. She gossips horribly about anyone and will take the side of management against good employees because she is too cowardly to do what is right. In the end, you have to ask is her knowledge worth her lack of character?
As for Charles, he should be run out of town. He should be thrown out of the credit union industry.
He should be tested publicly to show everyone how much he really doesn't know. He knows NOTHING about sales. He knows NOTHING about managing. He knows NOTHING about ethics. He does know how to destroy people's lives. He must have had a horrible childhood. I can't imagine how anyone could turn out to be so horrible.
DXLove, what an appropriate proverb.
There is no way Charles missed that may abuses. I wonder, if they audit her history for lets say 2 years, how many other abuses occurred without Liz's checking account having been closed.
I wonder if there are any legal grounds for a lawsuit by employees and members. If a member's account was closed due to abuse after 2 or 3 occurrences then why was Liz's account allowed to remain open after more than 40 abuses?
There is something definitely wrong at Priority.
"Kathy", i noticed on your comment you did not mention Gina or Gema. why?
Georgina and Gema can get away with things becuase they are allowed to. Georgina would have been fired a long time ago if there was no Aaron, Charles or even Patti. Aaron and Charles protected her and Patti is just ineffective. If she were effective she would have written Georgina up but she is a coward.
What is the date of the upcoming annual meeting?
Several of us want to attend. It would be a good time to give us answers to our questions.
I am mobilizing many of my friends to show up at the Annual Meeting. Those of us that are upset with Sir Charles and his cronies need to oust the Board Members such as Diedra who gave the Wig-Man approval to run the credit union into the ground. You can't hide any longer Diedra!
When will Priority One be posting financial results for March? Will our credit union continue to post red-ink?
How long will the NCUA and the DFI wait before they initiate charges against Wiggy for his nefarious dealings in the Wafa BMW repossession theft.
Georgina, has the knowledge of lending but she is straight out LAZY, just like cavazos. She loves having other loan officers next to her because she gives all the loan applications to them and less for her. but she is a good shopper, and is up to date on all the sales going on.
Post a Comment