MACON — A former financial institution loan officer has entered a responsible plea in federal court docket in an asset misapplication scheme involving $1.2 million.
Mitchell Fowler, 35, of Hawkinsville, pleaded guilty to one count of misapplication by a bank staff and one rely of embezzlement by a lender personnel prior to U.S. District Decide Tilman E. “Tripp” Self III. Fowler faces a maximum sentence of 30 several years in jail and a $1 million great. Sentencing is scheduled for March 7.
In accordance to court docket files, Fowler was a mortgage officer at SunMark Community Financial institution in Bonaire, exactly where he managed most of the bank’s design loans and consequently had the means to transfer resources among client accounts. About November 2019, Fowler started to just take money from customers’ accounts without their authorization, and he utilised those funds to shell out on and fund loans for other clients.
The unauthorized withdrawals and transfers manufactured from these accounts ranged from $1,250 to $100,000 per transaction. None of these withdrawals or transfers was approved by the prospects from whom the cash were being taken.
The issue came to SunMark’s consideration on Feb. 16, 2021, when a customer named pertaining to $400,000 that was lacking from their account. The financial institution identified that Fowler had electronically transferred the income to a different customer’s account around the training course of a 7 days. As SunMark officers dug deeper, they discovered Fowler experienced transferred funds out of other accounts without having authorization.

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SunMark calculated the loss to be $1,129,000. SunMark was capable to recoup most of the money by its very own avoidance and mitigation attempts. The remaining $273,173.71 that the financial institution was not able to recoup was repaid by Fowler.
“Although all of the embezzled cash had been recovered, it does not cut down the simple fact that this former bank staff was playing Russian roulette with other people’s revenue, putting their tricky-attained savings in jeopardy and a community financial institution at chance,” U.S. Legal professional Peter D. Leary mentioned in a information release. “Fraud of any sort is a really serious criminal offense that our office will not overlook. We will continue to do the job with our law enforcement companions to hold these company fraudsters accountable.”
“Banks are institutions that people have confidence in with their daily life price savings, and Fowler tarnished that trust by violating his situation and greedily misusing customers dollars,” Keri Farley, particular agent in charge of FBI Atlanta, stated. “Fortunately, an observant purchaser observed missing resources and notified the financial institution, saving further more reduction to the financial institution and other prospects. Thanks to our partnership with the Perry Police Section, Fowler will shell out noticeably for his crimes.”
The circumstance was investigated by the Perry Police Office and FBI. Assistant U.S. Lawyer Elizabeth Howard is prosecuting the case for the govt.
