Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #482

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Bank Accidentally Deposits $120,000 In Couple’s Account; They Spend Most of It, Then Get Charged With Theft
By Kayla Epstein, The Washington Post
Imagine waking up one day to find an extra $120,000 in your bank account. You did not make $120,000 or win $120,000, but there it is, $120,000, just sit- ting there. Cool!
What would you do with all that cash? Pay off the mountain of stu- dent loans you’d otherwise be stuck with till you die? Buy a house? Buy a car?
Maybe you should call the bank and find out what’s going on?
Yeah. Yeah, you definitely should call the bank.
Robert and Tiffany Williams of Montoursville, Pennsylvania, did not call the bank, police say.
When a non-
hypothetical $120,000 intend- ed for a business was accidentally transferred into their BB&T bank account because of a teller error, the couple splurged on a camper, a Chevy, and a racecar, state trooper Aaron Brown told the Williamsport Sun-Gazette. Authorities say they also distrib- uted $15,000 to friends who need- ed the money.
All told, they spent $100,000 in about 2 1/2 weeks,
WNEP reported.
Eventually, though, the bank contacted them on or around June 20 after sending the money to the cor- rect account. The bank notified Tiffany Williams, 35, that they were responsible for returning all the
funds, Brown told the Sun-Gazette. He added that the withdrawal result- ed in a $107,416 overdraft because the couple’s bank account had only $1,121 in it before the accidental windfall.
BB&T Bank did not immediately respond to a request for com- ment.
Tiffany first assured the bank she would work
out a repayment plan with her hus- band, but she eventually ceased communications, WNEP reported.
“That is kind of shocking, with all the procedures the banks have set up, checking and double- checking and triple-checking, there’s no way anybody gets away with that stuff,” Nate Weaver, a neigh- bor of the
Williamses, told WNEP.
The Sun-Gazette reported that the couple, in sepa- rate interroga- tions, told police that they “admit- ted to knowing the mislaid money did not belong to them, but they spent it anyway.”
The Williamses could not be reached immedi- ately, and it was unclear whether they had retained legal counsel.
The couple now face three felony charges of theft and receiving stolen property, court records show. They appeared in court last week and posted bail of $25,000 each. The Pennsylvania State Police could not immediately comment on the case to The Washington Post.
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