FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or
MARCIA MURPHY at 410-209-4885
December 18, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
HUSBAND AND WIFE INDICTED IN SCHEME TO FRAUDULENTLY OBTAIN OVER $2.5 MILLION FOR THEIR CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
Baltimore, Maryland - A federal grand jury indicted James A. Myrick and his wife Sharon A. Myrick, both age 51, of Chester, Maryland, on charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and bank fraud, in connection with a scheme to fraudulently obtain over $2.5 million in loans for their company, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. The indictment was returned on November 13, 2008 and unsealed today.
According to the nine count indictment, James Myrick was the owner and president of Celtic Construction Inc. and Celtic Sheet Metal (collectively “Celtic”). Sharon Myrick was the comptroller and treasurer of Celtic. Celtic manufactured and installed sheet metal, primarily for use in heating, ventilation and air conditioning, in the construction industry. In 1999 Celtic entered a loan agreement with a bank, which provided Celtic with a revolving line of credit up to $2.25 million. The line of credit was guaranteed by, among other things, Celtic’s accounts receivable. Celtic submitted a monthly report to the bank providing an accounting of its accounts receivable for the previous month which contained a list of the names of the companies owing Celtic money, invoice numbers for work completed, the balance of money owed and the age of the debt.
The indictment alleges that from December 2003 through July 2004 the defendants prepared reports which contained false representations of accounts receivable owed to Celtic in order to obtain funds from the bank. The indictment alleges that the reports contained false statements as to invoice numbers and debt amounts for work that was never completed, as well as inflated amounts of money not actually owed to Celtic. The bank relied on these false representations and as a result, the Myricks obtained for Celtic, a total of at least $2,590,000.
The indictment also seeks forfeiture of any property derived from the proceeds of the alleged crimes totaling at least $2,590,000.
The Myricks face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and a maximum of 30 years in prison for each of eight counts of bank fraud. Their initial appearance in federal district court has not yet been scheduled.
An indictment is not a finding of guilt. An individual charged by indictment is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty at some later criminal proceedings.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation for its investigative work and commended Assistant United States Attorneys Bryan Giblin and Robert R. Harding, who are prosecuting the case.