Sunday, May 17, 2015

A LONG-TIME BRANCH MANAGER OF MERCANTILE BAN IN NORTHEASTERN MONTCALM COUNTY, MICHIGAN HAS BEEN ARRESTED FOR ALLEGEDLY EMBEZZLING FUNDS THROUGH FRAUDULENT LOANS AND SEVERAL CASES OF IDENTITY THEFT.





MAY 15, 2015

VESTABURG, MICH. (WOOD)

A long-time branch manager of a bank in northeastern Montcalm County has been arrested for allegedly embezzling funds through fraudulent loans and several cases of identity theft.

Sandra Kay Ebright of Elwell has been charged with one count of embezzlement and 17-counts of identity theft. She has been arraigned and is being held at the Montcalm County Jail.

Ebright has also been fired after 31-years of service at the Mercantile Bank, located at 9002 E Howard City Edmore Road in Vestaburg.

Detectives were notified by corporate officials on March 25 that Ebright was suspected of embezzling funds through fraudulent loans.

Bank records showed that Ebright, over the course of several years, drew up a number of loans in the names of customers without them knowing. She would keep the money for herself and make payments on the loans to try to keep them from being discovered.

Ebright may never have been caught if it wasn’t for Melinda Arntz.

A few years ago, Arntz said she wanted to trade in her Jeep to get a new car. 

She went to the Mercantile Bank in Vestaburg which had just bought out First bank. She went to the manager she had known for years to redo her loan.

“I got the payment book in the mall. And a couple of weeks later she called me and said ‘because of Mercantile’s merger with First Bank there are duplicate account numbers. You’re going to be getting another payment book in the mail. But it is not yours, just bring it back to me and I will take care of it,” Arntz explained.

Trusting her, Arntz did just that. But three months later she got a late notice for a loan that had her name on it but it wasn’t hers.

Ebright said she would take care of it, blaming it on the merger. Arntz thought she had until she went to buy a house in Mount Pleasant.

“I decided to buy a house because I like it up here.  I was getting denied. And I’m thinking why am I getting denied? My credit was good, and so I went to see a credit councilor and he goes well this loan is still on here,” Arntz said. “Do you know how frustrating it is and embarrassing it is to be turned down for a house from a creditor and you don’t know why?”

Arntz then decided to contact Mercantile’s corporate office in Grand Rapids about the problem. She said the next thing she knew she got a call from Ebright saying she needed to come into the branch because she and corporate needed to talk to her.

“She said ‘because of your e-mail I’m going to get fired.’ And I felt absolutely horrible, still thinking it was Mercantile’s fault,” said Arntz.

Then Ebright asked her to lie to corporate.

“I looked at her and said ‘no, I just sent them an email stating it was not my loan. I’m not going to tell them it’s my loan now.’ ‘Well can you tell them that you took it out for someone else and they are paying it back?’ And I said ‘no.’ She said ‘well we need to come up with a story to tell them so I don’t get fire,’” said Arntz.

After that Arntz said she went home, looked though her records and figured out Ebright had used the VIN number off her old Jeep to open a new $25,000 loan. She also says Ebright had done it to her parents, opening a loan in their name for $10,000.

“I’m angry. I’m really angry. To take advantage of me but to my parents, at 77,” said Arntz. “How many senior citizens check their credit reports?”

Arntz said what makes it even worse it was Ebright that helped her rebuild her credit score after her divorce seven years ago.

“Finally, when I was able to do everything myself she does this to me. And then she made the statement, I hope they don’t contact your parents because I think of you guys as family,” said Arntz.

She had a message for Ebright: “You should be ashamed of yourself. How dare you take advantage of innocent people and senior citizens.”