Mike Tobin, Public Affairs Specialist, (216) 622-3651

Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that the last of six defendants was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan, in connection with a scheme and artifice to defraud National City Bank which resulted in aggregate losses of approximately $143,000.

On April 6, 2011, a federal grand jury in Cleveland, Ohio, returned an indictment charging six Cleveland area men with Bank Fraud in connection with a scheme and artifice to defraud National City Bank.

All six defendants pleaded guilty to the single count indictment in this case.

Sentences imposed were as follows:

Harvey Z. Brister, Jr., was sentenced to 5 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release with the first 5 months served in home confinement with electronic monitoring. Brister was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $143,383 to PNC Bank.

Lionel D. Rutherford was sentenced to 43 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Rutherford was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $ 143,383 to PNC Bank.

Carl Green was sentenced to 5 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, the first 5 months of which will be served in home detention with electronic monitoring. Green was also ordered to pay restitution to PNC Bank in the amount of $42,500.

David Powell was sentenced to 21 months in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Powell was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $55,632 to PNC Bank.

Carr Johnson was sentenced to 1 month in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. Johnson was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $ 12,000 to PNC Bank.

Michael Scheuring was sentenced to 87 days in the custody of the Bureau of Prisons, and was placed on supervised release for a period of 3 years. Scheuring was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $6,900 to PNC Bank.

Charged in the Indictment were: Harvey Z. Brister, Jr., age 26, of Cleveland, Ohio; Lionel D. Rutherford, age 37, of Shaker Heights, Ohio; Carl A. Green, age 42, of Cleveland Heights, Ohio; David Powell, age 54, of Streetsboro, Ohio; Carr W. Johnson, age 61, of Garfield Heights, Ohio; and Michael J. Scheuring, age 24, of Lorain, Ohio.

The indictment charged that between May 15, 2009, and December 10, 2009, Harvey Brister, then employed as a Consumer Banker by National City Bank at the branch located at 26000 Lakeshore Boulevard, Euclid, Ohio, and the others, executed a scheme to defraud National City Bank and to obtain funds from the bank my means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises, causing losses to National City Bank in excess of $143,000.00.

The indictment charged that Harvey Brister used the National City Bank computer system to access information concerning several customer accounts, which unauthorized computer inquiries were followed by a series of unauthorized wire transfers from those accounts to accounts maintained at other banks in the names of David Powell, Carl Green, Carr Johnson, and others. After the funds were fraudulently wired from National City Bank, Powell, Green, Johnson and others quickly withdrew the funds from the other institutions in the form of cash and bank checks.

Additionally, the indictment charged that various counterfeit checks purportedly drawn on one or more of the accounts accessed by Harvey Brister were negotiated and attempted to be negotiated at National City Bank branches and elsewhere by Green, David Scheuring, and others, thereby fraudulently withdrawing funds from said accounts.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert W. Kern of the Cleveland U.S. Attorney’s Office, following an investigation by the Cleveland Office of the United States Secret Service.

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