Lancet Jades
06-11-2004, 01:18 PM
Bank error only buys trouble
Thursday, June 10, 2004 By Nate Reens
The Grand Rapids Press
It's the banking mistake nearly everyone wants to see on a monthly statement -- thousands of extra dollars deposited into a personal account.
Todd L. Harris spent the unexpected windfall. That could cost the Kentwood man more than financially -- it could cost him his freedom.
As a result of keystroke blunder at a Grand Rapids bank, Harris was accidentally credited with an extra $60,000 when he deposited $487.04 at a then-Old Kent Bank branch near Michigan Street and Fuller Avenue NE.
That was on Dec. 8, 2000. Today, Harris is on trial in federal court in Kalamazoo. Prosecutors accuse him of taking advantage of the mistake, burning through $51,000 in one day.
Harris, 35, faces felony counts of bank fraud and bank larceny. If convicted, he could spend up to 30 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagen Frank and bank personnel say Harris, an agent with Five-Star Real Estate, went on a spending spree, paying down thousands of dollars of debt and securing a lease to a new Ford Expedition.
Defense attorney Kevin Floyd said Harris mistakenly thought the money belonged to him.
"He didn't go out and take a trip to Tahiti," Floyd said Wednesday after the first day of testimony. "He paid bills and did what normal people do. He was misled by bank personnel that the money was his."
Floyd said Harris did not intend to swindle the bank. Told of the error and possible prosecution, Harris started to repay the money. He had repaid $14,000 when indicted in March on criminal charges.
"He was doing what he could to repay money that, at the time, he believed was his," Floyd said. "The problem is he wasn't paying fast enough for the bank."
Harris' rapid spending began on Dec. 26, 2000, five days after an account statement was mailed to his residence.
Before the larger-than-expected deposit, Harris had a balance of about $4,000.
The bank discovered the incorrect credit to the real-estate agent's account the night of the Dec. 8 deposit. But the financial institution's adjustment department failed to act on the mistake until Feb. 9, 2001, said Lauren Davis, protection manager for Fifth Third Bank, which bought Old Kent in 2000.
Davis testified she was alerted to the difference when Harris was overdrawn by $60,000, which occurred when the bank took back the cash from his account.
"That's a large amount of money, and we needed to identify immediately what happened," she testified.
Davis said the bank reclaimed the money from Harris' account when an internal document was found in a fired employee's desk eight weeks after the initial transaction. The employee had been fired for accepting long-distance toll calls from a boyfriend in prison.
An investigation tracked the $60,000 misstep to the Dec. 8 deposit. Bank fraud investigator Marie DeGood then discovered "unusual activity" in the account.
"Beginning on Dec. 26, several large checks began posting against the funds, and ending on Dec. 29, over $50,000 has been removed from the account," DeGood said. "In one day, almost the entire amount had been removed."
Davis said the bank's error occurred in a processing center. The actual deposit was recorded by the teller correctly.
"They're keying in those items as fast as they can," she said about workers entering daily deposits and withdrawals. "Errors do happen."
The protection manager acknowledged under questioning by Floyd that if Harris called to check his balance following the lapse, he would have been told it was more than $60,000.
"The money appeared to belong to him," she said.
Floyd, a former Kent County assistant prosecutor and judicial candidate, is awaiting his own trial on a felony charge for allegedly stalking his ex-wife.
Thursday, June 10, 2004 By Nate Reens
The Grand Rapids Press
It's the banking mistake nearly everyone wants to see on a monthly statement -- thousands of extra dollars deposited into a personal account.
Todd L. Harris spent the unexpected windfall. That could cost the Kentwood man more than financially -- it could cost him his freedom.
As a result of keystroke blunder at a Grand Rapids bank, Harris was accidentally credited with an extra $60,000 when he deposited $487.04 at a then-Old Kent Bank branch near Michigan Street and Fuller Avenue NE.
That was on Dec. 8, 2000. Today, Harris is on trial in federal court in Kalamazoo. Prosecutors accuse him of taking advantage of the mistake, burning through $51,000 in one day.
Harris, 35, faces felony counts of bank fraud and bank larceny. If convicted, he could spend up to 30 years in prison.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagen Frank and bank personnel say Harris, an agent with Five-Star Real Estate, went on a spending spree, paying down thousands of dollars of debt and securing a lease to a new Ford Expedition.
Defense attorney Kevin Floyd said Harris mistakenly thought the money belonged to him.
"He didn't go out and take a trip to Tahiti," Floyd said Wednesday after the first day of testimony. "He paid bills and did what normal people do. He was misled by bank personnel that the money was his."
Floyd said Harris did not intend to swindle the bank. Told of the error and possible prosecution, Harris started to repay the money. He had repaid $14,000 when indicted in March on criminal charges.
"He was doing what he could to repay money that, at the time, he believed was his," Floyd said. "The problem is he wasn't paying fast enough for the bank."
Harris' rapid spending began on Dec. 26, 2000, five days after an account statement was mailed to his residence.
Before the larger-than-expected deposit, Harris had a balance of about $4,000.
The bank discovered the incorrect credit to the real-estate agent's account the night of the Dec. 8 deposit. But the financial institution's adjustment department failed to act on the mistake until Feb. 9, 2001, said Lauren Davis, protection manager for Fifth Third Bank, which bought Old Kent in 2000.
Davis testified she was alerted to the difference when Harris was overdrawn by $60,000, which occurred when the bank took back the cash from his account.
"That's a large amount of money, and we needed to identify immediately what happened," she testified.
Davis said the bank reclaimed the money from Harris' account when an internal document was found in a fired employee's desk eight weeks after the initial transaction. The employee had been fired for accepting long-distance toll calls from a boyfriend in prison.
An investigation tracked the $60,000 misstep to the Dec. 8 deposit. Bank fraud investigator Marie DeGood then discovered "unusual activity" in the account.
"Beginning on Dec. 26, several large checks began posting against the funds, and ending on Dec. 29, over $50,000 has been removed from the account," DeGood said. "In one day, almost the entire amount had been removed."
Davis said the bank's error occurred in a processing center. The actual deposit was recorded by the teller correctly.
"They're keying in those items as fast as they can," she said about workers entering daily deposits and withdrawals. "Errors do happen."
The protection manager acknowledged under questioning by Floyd that if Harris called to check his balance following the lapse, he would have been told it was more than $60,000.
"The money appeared to belong to him," she said.
Floyd, a former Kent County assistant prosecutor and judicial candidate, is awaiting his own trial on a felony charge for allegedly stalking his ex-wife.