Federal prosecutors say a Tacoma bank loan officer took more than $1.3 million from Tacoma Rescue Mission accounts.
Jeffrey R. Goodell, a loan officer at Northwest Commercial Bank, was charged Thursday with one count of bank fraud. His first court appearance and plea are scheduled for Tuesday.
Charging papers, obtained Wednesday, do not list an attorney for Goodell.
According to the documents:
Goodell and others came up with a scheme between June and December 2010 to defraud Northwest Commercial, where the Rescue Mission opened a money market account and two lines of credit that year.
Goodell fraudulently caused bank employees to draft cashier’s checks on and make transfers from the Rescue Mission’s account and lines of credit.
He then distributed the funds – eventually totally about $1.3 million - among about 14 people and businesses, sometimes making loan agreements that required them to repay the bank.
Goodell used copies of existing loan agreements to avoid using the bank’s software, and after creating the agreements, removed them from the bank. When a bank officer asked whether the nonprofit had authorized one of the checks, Goodell had someone tell the bank over the phone that she was the Rescue Mission’s chief financial officer, and had approved the transaction.
Goodell also drafted emails in the real executive’s name, asking the bank to issue cashier’s checks and transfer funds from the Rescue Mission’s accounts.
When the true CFO asked Goodell about the missing funds, he said the account statement was an error, and sent the nonprofit a partial computer screen image of a document that didn’t show the fraudulent withdrawals.
When the account and lines of credit were almost drained, Goodell forged the Rescue Mission chief executive officer’s signature to open a new line of credit for $800,000.
To prevent taking his leave during this process, which bank policy required him to do before the end of the year, Goodell shaved his head and told managers he had cancer and would need the time off later when it worsened, the documents state.
None of the others accused of helping Goodell is named in the court records and it was unclear Wednesday whether any had been charged.
Officials for the Rescue Mission, which provides shelter and jobs for the homeless, could not be reached Wednesday night.
alexis.krell@thenewstribune.com
253-597-8268
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