 |
|
|
U.S. Department of Justice PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
MARYLAND MAN PLEADS GUILTY TO EMBEZZLEMENT OF $126,800 FROM BRANCH OFFICE OF MERCANTILE POTOMAC BANK
Washington, D.C. - An Upper Marlboro, Maryland man, James T. White, 49, pled guilty today to embezzling $126,800 from a Mercantile Potomac Bank branch office in the District of Columbia in April 2006, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor announced. The plea of guilty to one count of bank embezzlement was accepted by the Honorable Paul L. Friedman in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Sentencing is scheduled for August 7, 2007. The defendant faces a statutory maximum of up to 30 years of imprisonment and a likely sentence of 21 to 27 months in prison under the federal sentencing guidelines.
The government’s evidence in this case showed that on or about April 10, 2006, while at work as a sales manager at Mercantile Potomac Bank’s branch office located at 1629 K Street, NW, Washington, D.C., James T. White arranged for $126,800 to be withdrawn from a certificate of deposit account belonging to a customer of Mercantile Potomac Bank, without the customer’s knowledge or consent. The monies withdrawn from the certificate of deposit account were funds entrusted to the custody and care of Mercantile Potomac Bank. At all relevant times, Mercantile Potomac Bank was a financial institution whose deposits were insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.
After withdrawing the funds from the certificate of deposit account, the defendant directed another bank employee to issue a Mercantile Potomac Bank cashier’s check in the amount of $126,800, payable to a law firm which represented a financial lender whom at that time the defendant owed payment in full on a $120,000 loan secured by the defendant’s personal residence in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. The financial lender’s lawyer had sent a letter to the defendant on or about March 29, 2006, indicating that the defendant was in default on the loan and that foreclosure proceedings would be initiated on the defendant’s home if full payment was not made by April 10, 2006.
For the purpose of executing his scheme, after obtaining the cashier check from Mercantile Potomac Bank, the defendant transported the cashier’s check from Mercantile Potomac Bank’s K Street branch to the financial lender’s lawyer’s office in Rockville, Maryland, knowing the cashier check to have been stolen, converted and taken by fraud. The defendant personally delivered the check to the financial lender’s lawyer on or about April 10, 2006, and the check was deposited by the law firm on or about April 11, 2006.
After learning that the funds had been withdrawn from the certificate of deposit account, Mercantile Potomac Bank began an investigation and determined that the withdrawal slip used to complete the transaction had the initials “J.W.” written in the top right corner. The bank confronted the defendant on or about April 17, 2006, who confessed that he took the money, but intended to replace the money.
In announcing the guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor commended Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent Mary Soudrette, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Perham Gorji and Michael Truscott, who are prosecuting the case.