Former Battle Ground bank manager sentenced for stealing from senior customers

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A former Battle Ground bank manager has been sentenced to 42 months in prison for stealing over $1 million from elderly customers.

Forty-four-year-old Brian Davie worked for the Battle Ground Wells Fargo from March 2014, up until he was fired from his position as branch manager in June 2019.

According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for Western District of Washington, the man used his role as manager to conduct fraudulent transactions using customers’ bank account balances and information.

Officials reported that Davie concealed his crimes by “repeatedly exchanging cashier’s checks until they were small enough to cash without triggering banking reporting requirements.”

The Attorney’s Office said he embezzled a total of $1,279,840 from customers, with one woman losing more than $566,000 from her retirement accounts.

Authorities also reported that Davie targeted senior citizens who were less likely to monitor their account balances. Some fraud victims suffered from dementia, weren’t fluent in English or didn’t understand bank transactions, according to officials.

In one instance, the former manager didn’t file the paperwork to add a victim’s relative as a co-signer on their account. Because of this, the Attorney’s Office said the relative was unable to monitor the account on the victim’s behalf.

Davie withdrew some of the stolen funds as cash, deposited some of the money into an account he created using the name of a family member’s business, and wrote cashier’s checks to the business with remaining funds.

He had been previously charged with bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Officials reported that Wells Fargo partially reimbursed the fraud victims, but a Western District of Washington judge will decide how much restitution Davie owes on March 18.

“Bank fraud and aggravated identity theft cause devastating effects on their victims,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary Dillon wrote. “It can often take years or even decades to undo the impact of identity theft and to untangle the impact it had on your finances and your credit score. Let alone the untold psychological damage it causes when you are unable to trust the government institutions that are designed to protect you. As a bank manager, Defendant knew better.”