Owings Mills Man Sentenced to over Three Years in Prison in Bank Fraud Scheme

Baltimore, Maryland – U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Darrick Jerome Greer, age 25, of Owings Mills, Maryland, today to 42 months in prison followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Judge Motz also ordered Greer to pay restitution of $183,846.96.

The sentence was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Brian Murphy of the United States Secret Service - Baltimore Field Office; and Chief James W. Johnson of the Baltimore County Police Department.

According to his plea, from November 2012 to January 2014, Greer recruited individuals – unindicted coconspirators – who were often young people in financial straits. Greer offered them money in return for access to their bank accounts, by giving Greer their personal identifying information, ATM cards and PIN numbers. Greer or his associates would obtain checks from bank accounts of third parties who may or may not have been participants in the scheme.

Once Greer obtained access to the bank accounts of others, he would deposit checks fraudulently drawn from third party accounts. Then, Greer used the ATM cards and PINs given to him to access the coconspirators accounts and withdraw some or all of the proceeds of the fraudulent check deposits previously made. Greer sometimes paid his coconspirators some of the fraudulently obtained proceeds of this scheme.

Greer defrauded or used the personal identifying information of over 50 individuals, resulting in a total loss to two banks of $183,846.96.

While on release pending sentencing, Greer was arrested with a gun and subsequently indicted for being a felon in possession of a firearm. Greer had his initial appearance in U.S. District Court today on that charge and pleaded not guilty. 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.

Today’s announcement is part of efforts underway by President Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force (FFETF) which was created in November 2009 to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes. With more than 20 federal agencies, 94 U.S. attorneys’ offices and state and local partners, it’s the broadest coalition of law enforcement, investigatory and regulatory agencies ever assembled to combat fraud. Since its formation, the task force has made great strides in facilitating increased investigation and prosecution of financial crimes; enhancing coordination and cooperation among federal, state and local authorities; addressing discrimination in the lending and financial markets and conducting outreach to the public, victims, financial institutions and other organizations. Since the inception of FFETF in November 2009, the Justice Department has filed more than 12,841 financial fraud cases against nearly 18,737 defendants including nearly 3,500 mortgage fraud defendants. For more information on the task force, visit www.stopfraud.gov.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended the Secret Service and Baltimore County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney P. Michael Cunningham, who prosecuted the case.