Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 7, 1991 TAG: 9102070578
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Standing stoically before U.S. Judge James Turk, Cheryl Benson Perry pleaded guilty in federal court in Roanoke to charges of embezzling money from Charter Federal. Under a plea agreement, two other charges against her - making false entries and laundering money - were dismissed.
The former vice president in Charter Federal's downtown Roanoke office was indicted last October on charges that from 1981 to May 1990, she made unauthor- Perry ized withdrawals from the accounts of 47 Charter Federal customers and transferred the money into 20 single and jointly held accounts in her own name and in the names of her family and friends.
Authorities maintain that Perry, 46, is responsible for Virginia's biggest bank embezzlement since 1956.
Perry is believed to have given away much of the embezzled money to charities, to street people, to her church and to friends.
"She was trying to buy love and admiration," said Jonathan Rogers, Perry's attorney. "I'm not going to say that she did not use some of the money for herself. But very little of it ended up in her own account."
An indictment listed the accounts of 47 customers, most of them elderly, from which Perry withdrew money. Perry made unauthorized withdrawals from the 47 accounts by creating false checks and signing her name to them.
Perry's embezzlement went undetected for so long because most of the accounts she targeted were CDs or dormant savings and checking accounts of elderly people, Tim Burke, an FBI agent who headed the investigation into Perry's activities, testified today.
"These were accounts with limited activity," he said. "These people were not regularly conducting business into the accounts."
Perry embezzled money by arranging for certain customers to have their monthly statements mailed to her at the bank rather than to their homes.
Perry went so far as to instruct bank employees to hold her mail while she was on vacation so that the embezzlement could not be detected, Burke said.
She concealed the unauthorized withdrawals by creating false monthly statements of customers' accounts that contained false account balances, he said.
Perry created false deposit slips to document deposits of the money she had withdrawn from customers' accounts into accounts in her name and those of family members - including her husband, mother, father, daughter, two brothers, stepson, stepdaughter, sister-in-law and two friends.
Deposits into those accounts ranged from $50 into an account in the name of Glenn Benson, Perry's brother, to $1 million in a joint account with her husband, Noah Perry. Perry used her "authoritative management style" to manipulate employees into allowing her to use their teller stations, Burke testified. Perry would forge bank tellers' initials in processing the fraudulent transactions, he said.
"They felt their continued employment status rested upon her being allowed to use their teller stations," Burke said.
Any daily money shortages or overages at teller stations were handled within the bank branch rather than reported to headquarters, as company policy required, Burke said.
Perry also embezzled funds by taking straight cash from accounts, Burke testified.
Burke said he learned of Perry's embezzlement when a Charter Federal official contacted him about an unauthorized withdrawal reported by a bank customer. The customer told the bank official that Perry was responsible.
Perry was subsequently interviewed about the embezzlement. She was physically ill from concealing her activities and was somewhat relieved that it had been discovered, Burke said.
"She said she never had any intention of repaying the money," Burke said. Perry has yet to turn over records of her embezzlement scheme.
Perry faces a maximum 20 years in prison, a maximum $1 million fine, or both. Her sentencing has been scheduled for May 9.
Rogers said he intends to ask that Perry be given credit for cooperating with authorities and that she be given probation.
"I don't think prison will help her," he said. "She's a very fragile person."
Perry remains free on a $150,000 property bond.
by CNB