Does anyone remember this segment? I watched it today on an NBC episode and hadn't remembered seeing it or hearing about it before but when I did a search it may have aired on Lifetime. She managed a credit union for a Hilton hotel in Cincinnati. The auditor came one day for a routine audit and realized there are just shy of $250,000 missing. That same day Phyllis disappeared, leaving her husband and children. Fourteen years later she was still missing although I did come across an article that stated she was found the same year the UM segment aired.

Here's a blurb I found about her capture, sounds like she got off really easy:

CINCINNATI - A woman who fled town 14 years ago and was found in New Orleans last month pleaded guilty to a charge in the 1979 disappearance of nearly $250,000 from the credit union where she was treasurer. Phyllis Jean Strub, 57, pleaded guilty Friday to making a false statement. Federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss 27 other charges.

Pleaded guilty for making a false statement? WTF? That sounds like a misdeameanor or a third-degree felony of some sort where she probably just did some community service and a few months to a year of probation.

The details of her running off with the cash and leaving her daughter and husband behind sounds familiar, but it might be another case I'm thinking of. I would like to see it when I make it around to volume 15. ;)

Yet another episode I have either forgotten or not seen.

Does anyone remember this segment? I watched it today on an NBC episode and hadn't remembered seeing it or hearing about it before but when I did a search it may have aired on Lifetime. She managed a credit union for a Hilton hotel in Cincinnati. The auditor came one day for a routine audit and realized there are just shy of $250,000 missing. That same day Phyllis disappeared, leaving her husband and children. Fourteen years later she was still missing although I did come across an article that stated she was found the same year the UM segment aired.

Here's a blurb I found about her capture, sounds like she got off really easy:

CINCINNATI - A woman who fled town 14 years ago and was found in New Orleans last month pleaded guilty to a charge in the 1979 disappearance of nearly $250,000 from the credit union where she was treasurer. Phyllis Jean Strub, 57, pleaded guilty Friday to making a false statement. Federal prosecutors agreed to dismiss 27 other charges.
Why would they dismiss 27 other charges?She was on the run for 14 years that should have a strict punishment in my eyes.

Why would they dismiss 27 other charges?She was on the run for 14 years that should have a strict punishment in my eyes.

Yup! Too bad there's no emoticon that exists for "slap on the wrist". It would totally apply in this case. :rolleyes:

Having watched the segment on the latest comp, I googled her name and it seems she was very ill with cancer and so they decided to let her spend what time she had left with her family rather than sending her to jail. She passed away in 1995.

Having watched the segment on the latest comp, I googled her name and it seems she was very ill with cancer and so they decided to let her spend what time she had left with her family rather than sending her to jail. She passed away in 1995.

Okay, that makes sense. I did also see where she was sentenced to a 41 month prison term but am not sure how much time she actually served. A sad ending....:(

Did anyone else notice the lady that portrays Strub in this segment is the same lady that plays Charlotte Pollis' mother in the Pollis segment? Their voices are identical and if you look closely (disregard the garbage wig in the Strub re-enactment) their faces are the same.

It's shame Strub had vancer but I dont think they should have let her out of jail to spend time with her family.


As far as Charkotte Pollis' mother, I still feel she is the single most obnoxious person to ever be interviewed on UM (that was not a suspect in the crime in question). I don;t mean to sound insensitive, but from the first time I saw that segment, I felt she was every bit as obnoxious as Pollis came across. BTW, that Nagy lady either has a huge set of grapefruits or has no brain to kidnap her granddaughter. Talk about a way to completely cripple your own defense should any custody hearings ever take place (if paul is ever charged. I do think he is guilty).

Having watched the segment on the latest comp, I googled her name and it seems she was very ill with cancer and so they decided to let her spend what time she had left with her family rather than sending her to jail. She passed away in 1995.

She ran away from her family for 14 years and then she wants to spend her remaining days with them. Interesting.

I am one of the sons of Phyllis Strub. To keep it simple, she left one day in 1980 without a trace. We have no clue what she could have done with that kind of money! I feel the number was inflated for insurance reasons. She left and took money out of accounts, jewelry and will on the road for the first few months ran up a pile of credit card bills. Those are not the actions of someone leaving with a pile of money. Anyway, she settled in New Orleans and lived very poorly until she was found when she used her SS # getting medical attention for her cancer. She was arrested and extradicted back to Cincy and was convicted of one of the counts. She was only in jail a couple of months when her cancer spread. She passed a few weeks later.

Sad, because she destroyed my dad, who loved her to the day he died. Sad because she would have been much better off facing the charges, then. Sad, because she ruined the rest of her life. She left when she was 42 and died at 57. She looked like a women of 70. This is why they made the episode a lost love episode. The part of the episode with the family was filmed at my home just outside of Ross, OH.

I am one of the sons of Phyllis Strub. To keep it simple, she left one day in 1980 without a trace. We have no clue what she could have done with that kind of money! I feel the number was inflated for insurance reasons. She left and took money out of accounts, jewelry and will on the road for the first few months ran up a pile of credit card bills. Those are not the actions of someone leaving with a pile of money. Anyway, she settled in New Orleans and lived very poorly until she was found when she used her SS # getting medical attention for her cancer. She was arrested and extradicted back to Cincy and was convicted of one of the counts. She was only in jail a couple of months when her cancer spread. She passed a few weeks later.

Sad, because she destroyed my dad, who loved her to the day he died. Sad because she would have been much better off facing the charges, then. Sad, because she ruined the rest of her life. She left when she was 42 and died at 57. She looked like a women of 70. This is why they made the episode a lost love episode. The part of the episode with the family was filmed at my home just outside of Ross, OH.

Thanks so much for posting. I'm so sorry to hear your father has passed away. He seemed like a nice man and I was touched at how devoted he was to Phyllis. I didn't realize that was how she was found out. I just assumed someone watched the UM segment and called in. Its still baffling why she felt the need to take the money and leave in the first place. I believe the UM segment said there wasn't any proof that she used any of that money while she was on the run. A sad story all around.

Yet another episode I have either forgotten or not seen.

:wave:

I know, right??? I watched UM all the time back then and the reruns since and still I only remember a few of the cases.

Pam :wave:

I am one of the sons of Phyllis Strub. To keep it simple, she left one day in 1980 without a trace. We have no clue what she could have done with that kind of money! I feel the number was inflated for insurance reasons. She left and took money out of accounts, jewelry and will on the road for the first few months ran up a pile of credit card bills. Those are not the actions of someone leaving with a pile of money. Anyway, she settled in New Orleans and lived very poorly until she was found when she used her SS # getting medical attention for her cancer. She was arrested and extradicted back to Cincy and was convicted of one of the counts. She was only in jail a couple of months when her cancer spread. She passed a few weeks later.

Sad, because she destroyed my dad, who loved her to the day he died. Sad because she would have been much better off facing the charges, then. Sad, because she ruined the rest of her life. She left when she was 42 and died at 57. She looked like a women of 70. This is why they made the episode a lost love episode. The part of the episode with the family was filmed at my home just outside of Ross, OH.

Thanks so much for posting. I have a personal question, so feel free to ignore it: Do you feel that your mother was mentally ill? I ask because I have a relative who is bipolar, and this sounds like something my relative might do/has done in the past.

I am one of the sons of Phyllis Strub. To keep it simple, she left one day in 1980 without a trace. We have no clue what she could have done with that kind of money! I feel the number was inflated for insurance reasons. She left and took money out of accounts, jewelry and will on the road for the first few months ran up a pile of credit card bills. Those are not the actions of someone leaving with a pile of money. Anyway, she settled in New Orleans and lived very poorly until she was found when she used her SS # getting medical attention for her cancer. She was arrested and extradicted back to Cincy and was convicted of one of the counts. She was only in jail a couple of months when her cancer spread. She passed a few weeks later.

Sad, because she destroyed my dad, who loved her to the day he died. Sad because she would have been much better off facing the charges, then. Sad, because she ruined the rest of her life. She left when she was 42 and died at 57. She looked like a women of 70. This is why they made the episode a lost love episode. The part of the episode with the family was filmed at my home just outside of Ross, OH.

Hi strub1,

WOW.

Very, very sorry for your loss... all the way around.

Pam ohno:

Hi all :wave:

Obviously there wasn't... but no statute of limitations on this type of crime?

Pam

At the end of the segment RS did mention that none of the stolen money had been spent and RS mentioned when her car broke down she told the mechanic she had no money for the repairs. Strub if you still check out this board, did your mom ever open up to you about why she did the crime? Your father seemed liked a great loving guy. My condolences go out to you.

Wake up call: these are real people!!

Haven't checked back here recently. I have kids now the age my mom was when she left, I have no idea how she could have just walked away. To answer a couple of the questions: No my mom was not bipolar, no manic side, pretty easy going. Very organized and took care of things. As for her opening up, she talked at length with my wife. I really thought we would have time to sit down and discuss what happened. My wife was pregnant, my mom had cancer and other medical issues, and then she went back to prison. When she came back home, it was more of the court system releasing her to us so we could take care of her. She was in pretty bad shape, stayed a very brief time with my dad Earl, then into a care center until she passed. All she said about the money was that she took a little here and there to help with things. She was repulsed about that dollar amount that they say she embezzled. As I get older, I realize that there is almost always more than what people are telling you. I still don't understand why you would ruin the rest of your life at age 42, if you embezzled just a few thousand? I am sure I will never know now, just seems that there was more going on and possibly others involved. There's my thoughts, I have been busy with my life the last few years and it almost feels that she never came back when she left in 1980. I know were she was and was able to be there when she passed, but the questions that were there all that time when she was gone are still unanswered.

I guess it wasn't suprising she was found in New Orleans, since Stack says that's the last place she was seen.

Here's an article that says she married the year after her disappearance. So she's a bigamist also. The first husband divorced her some time after her disappearance due to financial issues.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1350&dat=19941213&id=MFdPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=XQMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6776,4285617

I'm always baffled by fraud cases like this. Did she not think they would eventually find out about the missing money? I'm also curious as to how she embezzled it, was she shorting customers?

I've been cleaning up the after-effects of a HD crash (where I stored my media) and have been trying to get my own personal UM collection organized.

Came across this segment which I don't remember, but damn - this is both sad and perplexing. Sad, because like other similar cases, it has ruined lives and a family. Perplexing, because at the end in a footnote, Stack said that as far as authorities could determine, none of the money she took (whether the definite figure was inflated or not) was ever spent (so yeah - what happened to it??)