The Herald, Sharon, PA Published Friday, January 24, 2003


6th person pleads guilty in bank fraud

By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer

A Brownsville, Pa., woman has pleaded guilty to being part of a scheme to defraud banks in Mercer County and the surrounding area.

Joyce E. Green, 43, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud Thursday before U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent, Cleveland, said Assistant U.S. Attorney James V. Moroney.

Nugent sentenced Ms. Green to 16 months in prison followed by 3 years' supervised release, and to pay a $100 special assessment and $80,114 in restitution, Moroney said.

Ms. Green did not ask to report to prison at another time and was immediately taken there, Moroney said.

Ms. Green admitted securing false identification documents in four names, setting up bank accounts and cashing counterfeit checks on those accounts, Moroney said.

She is the sixth person to plead guilty in the investigation.

Charles R. Harris, 32, formerly of Farrell, and Lynette Frieson, 35, formerly of Farrell and Sharon, were the ringleaders of the bank fraud scheme, which defrauded banks out of more than $150,000 in 1998 and 1999, Moroney said.

They made counterfeit checks on a computer, set up bank accounts and cashed the checks.

The couple also helped others get false identification documents so they could cash checks at banks in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia.

Harris pleaded guilty to bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud and received the stiffest sentence: 27 months in prison, a $200 special assessment, 3 years' supervised release and $117,672 in restitution.

Ms Frieson; Lori M. Bryant Prince, 32, of 320 Sterling Ave., Sharon, formerly of Farrell; and Barbara J. McGhee, 62, of Brownsville, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, and Devonna Childress, 29, of Shenango Township, formerly of Farrell, pleaded guilty to bank fraud. All are serving their sentences.

The cases of Phillip "Jiggs" Wells, 30, of 622 Emerson Ave., Farrell, and Craig Ison, 39, formerly of Sharon, who were charged with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, are pending.

Like Ms. Green, Wells signed a pre-plea agreement allowing a pre-sentencing investigation to be conducted. He initially pleaded not guilty, but is expected to enter a guilty plea Monday before Nugent, Moroney said.

A pre-sentencing investigation on Ison is being conducted, he said.



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