BALTIMORE MAN CHARGED IN LOUISVILLE BANK FRAUD CONSPIRACY
– Eleven counterfeit checks totaling $51,145.43
– The last of co-conspirators arrested

David L. Huber, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, and Tracy Reinhold, Special Agent in Charge of the Kentucky Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), jointly announced today that a federal Grand Jury in Louisville, Kentucky, returned an Indictment charging Barry Elijah Davis with committing bank fraud, mail fraud, and conspiracy to commit bank fraud by depositing a total of eleven counterfeit checks in the amount of $51,145.43 into various bank accounts. Davis is currently pending sentencing on similar charges in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, Maryland.

The Indictment charges that Davis recruited a number of Louisville men to participate in a bank fraud scheme in which he caused counterfeit checks to be deposited into their bank accounts. Once Davis and his co-conspirators deposited the counterfeit checks, he then ordered the Louisville men to send money to him or his associates through Western Union wire transfers or other means.

The Indictment alleges that during May of 2004 five counterfeit checks, totaling $21,507.35, were deposited into Byron Lewis’s PNC Bank account. Immediately following these deposits, Lewis, at the direction of Javon Powell, made multiple withdrawals from his bank account and also following the deposits, Lewis used a PNC Bank Check Card to purchase $6,680 worth United States Postal Money Orders made payable to him. In addition, Lewis purchased Western Union wire transfers payable to others immediately following the deposits of the counterfeit checks.

The Indictment further alleges that also during May of 2004 two more counterfeit checks, totaling $9,680.90, were deposited into Stuart Furlow’s PNC Bank account. Immediately following the deposits, Furlow, at the direction of Powell, made multiple withdrawals from his bank account. Also following the deposits, Furlow used a PNC Bank Check Card to purchase $2,000 worth of United States Postal Money Orders made payable to others.

The Indictment further alleges that again during May of 2004 two additional counterfeit checks, totaling $9,981.80, were deposited into Marcus Sherrill’s PNC Bank account. Immediately following the deposits, Sherrill, at the direction of Powell, made multiple withdrawals from his bank account. Also following the deposits, Sherrill used a PNC Bank Check Card to purchase $6,680 worth of United States Postal Money Orders made payable to him. In addition, Sherrill purchased Western Union wire transfers payable to others immediately following the deposit of the counterfeit checks.

The Indictment also alleges that during April 2004 two counterfeit checks, totaling $9,977.46, were deposited into Joseph Fulman’s U.S. Bank bank account. Immediately following the deposits, Fulman made multiple withdrawals from his bank account.

On August 10, 2006, Byron Lewis, Stuart Furlow, and Marcus Sherrill pleaded guilty to their involvement in the conspiracy and bank fraud scheme, and Javon Powell and Joseph Fulman pleaded guilty on December 7, 2006

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Bryan R. Calhoun, and it was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

In the event of a conviction, the maximum potential penalties for Davis are up to 125 years imprisonment, a fine of $4,250,000, and supervised release for a period of five years.

Davis is scheduled to appear for arraignment before the United States Magistrate Judge on February 20, 2007, at 9:15 a.m., in Louisville, Kentucky.

The indictment of a person by a Grand Jury is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.

- END -

DLH:BRC:vlp 070124