Posted on 06/10/2009 4:40:53 PM PDT by Larry381
Waynesboro Woman Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud- Mary Ann Blair Faces a Maximum Sentence of 30 Years in Prison
United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley announced today that Mary Ann Blair, age 36, of Waynesboro, Virginia, pled guilty today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville to charges related to bank fraud.
Today in District Court, Blair waived her right to indictment and instead pled guilty to a one-count information charging her with bank fraud. The defendant admitted that beginning in September 2007 and continuing through at least July 2008, she, and others not identified in the document, devised a scheme to commit bank fraud.
“Ensuring the integrity of our banking system is one of the most important duties our office performs,” United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley said today. “In order to maintain the public’s confidence in our banks, individuals who defraud these institutions must be brought to justice”
To perpetrate the scheme, Blair, or others, would obtain checks from local banks belonging to accounts that had been closed or contained no funds. They would then open a new account at the bank and deposit one of the worthless checks. Immediately thereafter they would travel to a different branch location of the same bank and deposit additional worthless checks. Once several checks were deposited, they would travel to a branch location not previously visited and withdraw the money. Due to the timing of the deposits and withdraws, the banks were unaware that the deposited checks were worthless.
In all, the scheme resulted in loses of more than $55,000 to several local banks.
If convicted on all counts, the maximum penalty faced by the defendant is 30 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $1 million. Blair will be sentenced at a hearing scheduled for August 31, 2009.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of investigation and the City of Waynesboro Police Department, City of Harrisonburg Police Department, and the Commonwealth Attorney’s Office for the city of Waynesboro. Assistant United States Attorney Ronald Huber is prosecuting the case for the United States.
She’s just getting back her part of the bailout...
Her biggest problem is that she left about 5 zeroes off the amounts she stole.
Wow, my hometown made the news again. There just aren’t that many banks in Waynesboro, so I don’t know how Blair thought she would get away with it.
ASD that is exactly what I was thinking as I read this story. The bigger the fraud, the more the publicity it attracts and the better the chance of getting a smaller penalty.
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