Former Maryland Bank Teller Admits Role in $255,000 Fraud Scheme Targeting Elderly Customers

A former bank teller in Prince George’s County has pleaded guilty to federal charges after participating in a scheme to steal more than $250,000 from bank customers, most of whom were senior citizens. Mountee Brown, 27, of Clinton, Maryland, used his position at a bank in Upper Marlboro to help co-conspirators make dozens of unauthorized cash withdrawals from victim accounts over several weeks in late 2022.

Brown admitted in court to working with others to conduct at least 26 fraudulent transactions involving five customer accounts. Four of the victims were over 80 years old. The scheme began on October 21, 2022, when a co-conspirator pretending to be a customer approached Brown’s teller station and withdrew $10,000 without the victim’s knowledge. Brown facilitated the withdrawal by falsely documenting that the customer’s identity had been verified and that the customer was personally known to his supervisor. Over the following days, similar transactions occurred involving other co-conspirators and victims.

On October 22, 2022, Brown processed two more unauthorized withdrawals totaling $20,000 from the same victim’s account. That same day, he deposited $4,300 into his own account at a different bank. Just days later, another co-conspirator successfully withdrew $10,000 each from two additional elderly customers using the same tactics. Brown again approved the withdrawals under false pretenses, knowing the individuals were not the account holders.

In total, Brown deposited approximately $30,200 into his personal account from October to December 2022, as part of the fraud. Investigators determined that Brown and his co-conspirators collectively obtained about $255,000 through the scheme. Brown pled guilty to charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft and now faces sentencing at a later date. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, with investigative support from the FDIC Office of Inspector General.

Article by multiple RFHC contributors, based upon information from a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland

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