A Missoula man admits to charges of embezzlement in federal court

MISSOULA – A former Missoula credit union employee accused of embezzling about $390,000 from the safe and exchanging the real money for fake money admitted Friday to theft.

U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich says 35-year-old Edward Arthur Nurse of Missoula has pleaded guilty to an indictment charging him with theft from a credit union. The nurse faces up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine and five years of supervised release.

Prosecutors alleged in court documents that Nurse embezzled from his employer, Park Side Credit Union in Missoula, from approximately July 2023 to June 2024.

An employee discovered in June 2024 that $340,000 in cash in the credit union’s safe had been replaced with fake money from a company that provides fake money as props for films and entertainment productions.

The nurse was identified as a potential suspect because his primary role was managing and balancing money in the safe. Financial records show a total of $117,751 in cash deposits were deposited into Nurse’s bank account over the past seven months, with each deposit exceeding $10,000, according to a news release.

Additionally, financial information from a local casino shows that between March 2024 and May 2024, Nurse put more than $56,000 in cash into the company and paid out just over $8,000.

When the credit union discovered the thefts, Nurse claimed to an FBI special agent that he did not usually carry much cash and that, other than a vacation to Las Vegas, Nevada, he had not recently made any major purchases or cash deposits.

The investigation revealed that Nurse purchased $410,000 in fake money from a prop money company during the first six months of 2024 and had the money delivered to a post office box in Nurse’s name.

The credit union was later told that the Federal Reserve had received approximately $50,000 in fake money in July 2024. That money was returned and it was determined that they were counterfeit bills from the prop money company.

Sentencing in the case was set for February 25, 2025, and Nurse was released pending further proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Donald W. Molloy presided over the case, which was investigated by the FBI with assistance from the Missoula Police Department.