A Pennsylvania man says he considered it divine providence when a bank error put more than $175,000 in his and his wife’s account. Fifty-year-old Randy Pratt and 36-year-old Melissa Pratt face trial in Columbia County Court on felony theft and conspiracy charges. They waived a preliminary hearing Wednesday.
The trouble started when a $1,772.50 deposit to the Pratts’ FNB Bank account showed up as $177,250 last summer. Police say that instead of telling the bank, they withdrew the money, quit their jobs and moved to Florida.
Randy Pratt tells the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise he did attempt to ask the bank what happened, but was ignored. He said he considered the money “a gift from God.” He says the couple gave away thousands of dollars, including $25,000 to a Florida church shelter for the homeless.
Randy Pratt is in county prison. A judge denied a request to lower his $100,000 bail. Melissa Pratt, who told the court she is estranged from her husband, is free on unsecured bail.
What do you think? “A gift from God” or an easy excuse for his crime?
I don’t believe I’ve ever had a banking error. And, if it had been a $175,000 error, I think I would have noticed. And, I doubt the bank would have ignored me.
Sounds to me like the Pratts were just a little greedy!
I always wondered what I would do if that old Monopoly thing came true for me: "Bank error in your favor." Now I know...Turn it in! I agree STeve. Greed seems to be the truth here.
ReplyDeleteGift from God, huh? They were either completely stupid or completely greedy; perhaps both....
ReplyDeleteI've had the bank make errors on my account AND THEY CORRECTED IT!
If they hadn't taken the money and quit their jobs and gone to FL, I *might* believe their "innocent" story. But, . . . .
ReplyDeleteOkay, I and countless thousands of other folks once worked at a bank. (I know countless thousands of others did because every single time anything someone THOUGHT was wrong came up we heard, "I know how these things work, I worked in a bank 50 years ago.") That having been said, I gots ta' say how dumb could you be? I mean even if say the local branch missed it and refused to acknowledge, somewhere down the road, that's going to get caught, and someone's going to say oops give it back. Think that goes along with reaping what ya' sow!
ReplyDeleteOk, here's the deal--if I'm going to steal money from a bank, it's going to be enough to buy my own island in international waters where extradition laws don't apply AND have enough money left over to live for the next 60 years.
ReplyDeleteA couple of billion dollars should do it.