FORMER TREASURER OF INTERNATIONAL FRATERNITY FOUND GUILTY OF CHARGES IN CONNECTION WITH THEFT OF $241,000

Washington, D.C. - Terry Davis, the former elected National Treasurer of Phi Beta Sigma, an international fraternal organization, has been found guilty of eight counts of bank fraud, one count of theft in the first degree and one count of fraud in the first degree stemming from his theft of $241,000 from the fraternity's bank account, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Joseph Persichini, Jr., Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Washington Field Office, announced today.

A federal jury sitting in the District of Columbia found Davis, 40, guilty of the charges on Thursday, May 3, 2007. The Honorable Reggie B. Walton is scheduled to sentence Davis on August 7, 2007. Davis, formerly of Memphis, Tennessee and Herndon, Virginia, faces a statutory maximum sentence of 50 years in prison, though under the federal sentencing guidelines Davis's likely sentence will be between 37 and 57 months of incarceration.

According to the evidence presented at trial, between January 2001 and June 2003, while he was the elected, National Treasurer of Phi Beta Sigma, Davis had custody of the fraternity's check book. During that time period, Davis wrote 126 checks payable to cash, without authorization, using the fraternity's check book. On many of the checks, Davis forged the name of the fraternity's National President. In many instances, Davis falsely wrote on the memo line of the check that the proceeds of the check were intended for legitimate fraternity purposes when, in fact, Davis diverted the proceeds to personal expenses. Davis also forged the bank signature cards for the fraternity's checking account and falsely represented to the bank, among other things, that the number of required signatures on the fraternity's checking account had been reduced from two signatures to one signature. Davis deposited the proceeds of many of the checks into his personal bank accounts and expended the proceeds on personal expenses. It was shown at trial that the proceeds obtained by Davis through the 126 checks made payable to cash totaled over $241,000.

In announcing the verdict, U.S. Attorney Taylor and FBI Assistant Director in Charge Persichini praised the efforts of FBI Special Agent Mark Stanley. They also commended the work of the following individuals from the U.S. Attorney's Office: Supervisory Paralegal Specialist Janean Bently; Paralegal Specialists Melanie Howard, Lynita Greene and Jeanie Latimore-Brown; Legal Assistant Lisa Robinson; and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Atkinson and John Roth, who prosecuted the case.

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