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

U.S. Attorney Jesse Laslovich says Edward Arthur Nurse, 35, of Missoula, 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.

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

An employee discovered that $340,000 in cash in the credit union’s vault had been replaced with counterfeit funds from a company that provides counterfeit currency as props for movies and entertainment productions in June 2024.

The nurse was identified as a potential suspect because her primary role was managing and balancing the money in the vault. Financial records showed cash deposits totaling $117,751, each deposit greater than $10,000, into the nurse’s bank account over the past seven months, a news release said.

Additionally, financial information from a local casino reflected that from March 2024 to May 2024, Nurse invested more than $56,000 in cash into the business and took in just over $8,000.

Once the credit union discovered the thefts, Nurse claimed to an FBI special agent that he didn’t usually carry a lot of cash and, aside from a vacation to Las Vegas, Nevada, he hadn’t recently made any large purchases or cash deposits.

The investigation determined that during the first six months of 2024, Nurse purchased $410,000 in counterfeit currency from a money laundering company and had the money delivered to a PO box in Nurse’s name.

The credit union was later informed that approximately $50,000 in counterfeit money had been received by the Federal Reserve in July 2024. These funds were returned and determined to be 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.