Five Indicted for Roles in Bank Fraud Scheme

A federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging John Townsend, age 47, of Akron, Ohio; Samer Sammor, age 38, of Uniontown, Ohio; LaMont McBride, age 38, of Cleveland, Ohio; Alicia Caldwell, age 49, of Inkster, Michigan; and Wade Tyus, age 50, of Cleveland, Ohio, with 10 counts including conspiracy, bank fraud, and forged securities, said Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.

The conspiracy charge alleges that from February 2005 through March 2006, defendants conspired with others to commit bank fraud with checks that had been stolen from the mail room at the Eaton Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. The indictment further alleges that from 2003 through 2006, defendants defrauded several Cleveland area bank branches including National City Bank, Huntington Bank, Charter One Bank, and U.S. Bank out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by depositing stolen or counterfeit checks into fraudulent business accounts and withdrawing or transferring the funds.

The indictment was presented to the grand jury by Assistant United States Attorney Christos N. Georgalis after an investigation by agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

If convicted, the defendants’ sentence will be determined by the court after a review of factors unique to the case, including the defendants’ prior criminal record, if any, the defendants’ role in the offense, and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.