A former loan officer at SunMark Community Bank in Bonaire, Ga., pleaded guilty to charges related to a $1.2 million asset misapplication scheme.
In a Nov. 16 news release, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Georgia announced Mitchell Fowler, 35, entered a guilty plea Nov. 15 to charges of misapplication and embezzlement by a bank employee.
“Although all of the embezzled funds were recovered, it does not reduce the fact that this former bank employee was playing Russian roulette with other people’s money, putting their hard-earned savings in jeopardy and a community bank at risk," U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary said in the release. "Fraud of any kind is a serious crime that our office will not ignore. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to hold these corporate fraudsters accountable.”
According to the release, Fowler faces a maximum of 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine. A sentencing hearing has been set for March 7, 2023.
Fowler was in charge of managing the majority of SunMark's construction loans and was able to move money between client accounts. The release stated court records revealed Fowler started withdrawing money from clients' accounts without consent around November 2019 and used the money to pay off and repay loans for different clients. The withdrawals ranged from $1,250 to $100,000.
SunMark learned of the problem Feb. 16, 2021, when a client reported $400,000 had disappeared from their account, according to the release. Within a week, the bank learned Fowler moved the money to another customer's account.
SunMark's internal investigation uncovered additional unauthorized transfers and estimated the loss to be $1,129,000, most of which was recovered through their own efforts with Fowler paying the remaining $273,173, the release reported.
