[July 18, 2011] Man pleads guilty in plot to steal ID info, money at banks Tweet Jul 15, 2011 (The Charlotte Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- A man has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud after he and a group of accomplices tried to use customer information to get nearly $350,000 from Bank of America and Wachovia, according to federal court documents filed this week. Jerry Lee Grier, Jr., 33, and a group of co-conspirators made 12 attempts to defraud banks in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Maryland between October 2009 and June 2010, court documents show. Grier signed a plea agreement and waiver of indictment Thursday and is being held in the Mecklenburg County jail. He faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. No sentencing date has been set. "Jerry has taken responsibility for his conduct and is relieved the matter is resolved," Grier's defense attorney Peter Anderson said. "He wants to do whatever he can to make things right, accept his punishment and get on with his life." Documents say Grier and accomplices first obtained sensitive customer information of Bank of America and Wachovia clients, including names, account numbers and social security numbers. The group then used a cellphone to call bank tellers and other employees, documents say, using the information to impersonate the account holders. The identities of the customers have not been released, but court documents say Grier and his accomplices often falsely represented themselves as celebrities and famous athletes. Grier and accomplices then offered the tellers and employees gifts, such as private plane rides, tickets to night clubs and money for manicures, in exchange for their assistance, documents say. The group members used lies such as needing to bail a friend out of jail or pay funeral expenses to explain why they needed cash fast, documents say. Grier and his collaborators provided excuses for why they could not personally come into the bank, advising they would send a friend or relative, documents say. Co-conspirators arrived at the bank to attempt the transaction, documents say. Once inside, they provided the relevant account information and requested a fund transfer. Transactions usually involved cashing or depositing bogus checks, withdrawing funds or transferring funds from customer accounts to the co-conspirators' accounts, documents say. Grier has held multiple addresses in Mecklenburg County, as well as addresses in Georgia and Maryland. He has been arrested in the past on charges that include obtaining property under false pretenses, felony larceny and providing fictitious information to an officer, court records show. Grier also has a supervised release violation, Anderson said. Court documents did not detail whether the attempted transactions were successful or how Grier and the accomplices obtained customers' information. The investigation is ongoing. There are many ways the group could have obtained the information, said Evan Hendricks, editor and publisher of Privacy Times, a newsletter covering privacy and freedom of information law. From tricking the bank into providing information over the phone to hacking into the bank's computers, any recorded information could be obtained, he said. Wachovia, bought by Wells Fargo in 2008, worked closely with law enforcement officials, including providing evidence, said Josh Dunn, a Wells spokesman. "We will continue to cooperate as needed," he said. A Bank of America spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. Observer researcher Maria David contributed. To see more of The Charlotte Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.charlotteobserver.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]