CENTRAL OHIO WOMAN SENTENCED TO 35 MONTHS FOR BANK FRAUD

Stephanie A. Parsley, 38, of Orient, Ohio was sentenced in United States District Court here today to 35 months for a counterfeit check scheme to defraud a bank of money that she used to purchase a condominium. Parsley, also known as Stephanie P. Ciccone, also forged signatures of a U.S. District judge and her public defender on a counterfeit "court order” for the victim bank to release funds it had frozen after she pleaded guilty.In her initial scheme, Parsley opened a savings account at an Internet bank by initiating electronic transfers of $2,500 from two non-existent checking accounts at Huntington Bank. She then wrote a bogus check that appeared to be drawn in the amount of $100,000 on a non-existent account at the Internet bank, using that check to open a checking account and a savings account at Huntington Bank. On the same day, Parsley withdrew $11,951.51 from one of the accounts at Huntington Bank, negotiated at Huntington Bank another, similar bogus check in the amount of $119,515.02, and received from Huntington Bank a cashier's check for $118,986.03 that she used to buy a condominium. The next day, Parsley withdrew an additional $4000 from one of the accounts at Huntington Bank. Posted in: Check Fraud