TCTI: Too Crazy Too Ignore
 Dave Ross
AP: c5e550be-1793-45c0-aa5e-20bf3ae6e979
Richard Eggars stands in the Laundromat in Carlisle, Iowa that has come back to haunt him. Wells Fargo fired Eggers on July 13, in compliance with a new federal law. The tougher standards are meant to clear out executives and mid-level bank employees guilty of transactional crimes such as identity theft and money laundering. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Andrea Melendez)

Fired over a piece of cardboard

August 31, 2012 @ 12:49 pm (Updated: 8:56 am - 9/4/12 )

cedargrove
Richard Eggers stands in the Laundromat in Carlisle, Iowa that has come back to haunt him. Wells Fargo fired Eggers on July 13, in compliance with a new federal law. The tougher standards are meant to clear out executives and mid-level bank employees guilty of transactional crimes such as identity theft and money laundering. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Andrea Melendez)

Banks are under strict rules to make sure there's never again a 2008 debacle, and those rules apply to every bank employee including Richard Eggers, who worked in a Wells Fargo Home Mortgage Office in Des Moines Iowa, answering the phones: a customer service telephone jockey.

He did his job well until one day the email went out that the FDIC would be enforcing a new rule.

"It states that anyone with a criminal record cannot work in a position of financial responsibility," said Eggers.

Bad news for Richard Eggers who, on a February night in 1963, was hanging out at the Laundromat with a friend, watching the clothes go 'round, when he got bored.

"And for no good reason I started cutting out dime sized pieces of cardboard to see if they work in the coin machines," said Eggers, "which they don't."

The sheriff caught him - cardboard-handed - and arrested him for fraud. And now, 49 years later, his bank has no choice but to fire him unless he applies for a waiver.

"Lower personnel, like myself, were simply shown the door and told that we could call the FDIC. The management personnel who were caught in this had waivers filed for them by Wells Fargo," said Eggers.

So Richard waits to see if his waiver is granted. And that is how a bank regulation, intended to prevent another meltdown due to guys who made fraudulent securities out of thin air, ended up protecting us from a guy who made fraudulent dimes out of cardboard.

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Comments (22)


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  • Kief Sloberman wrote...
    He deserves it
    September 3, 2012 8:01 am
    He looks like a middle class white guy. Probably a RWNJ. It is good to sacrifice these fools so that the sheeple will see that government is protecting them. This is also a good distraction from other things that might make the Democrats look bad. We sure don't want any discussion about MF Global or Solyndra coming out now.
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  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    Yep.
    September 3, 2012 8:56 am
    You be correct, Kief. Word...but you'z forgot that Fast & Furious thang...
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  • fartforce1 wrote...
    49 years later and once caught always caught.
    September 3, 2012 9:09 am
    He was just "seeing" if fake money worked in machines "for no good reason." For no good reason is right. He was caught in the act of stealing and for what even reason he was caught and arrested probably because the laundry mat had a problem with people making slugs and stealing free laundry services. Tough mistake. But you would think that after half a century of criminal free life there would be some cleaning of guilt and forgiveness, and there is....if he fills out the waiver.
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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Uh, Dave? ... Do NOT think about criticizing Clint Eastwood (or Joe Biden) for 'senior moments'.
    September 3, 2012 8:35 am
    You did this bit last Thursday, already.

    As I then noted, the problem is likely that Wells used a 'investigative service' that did little more than pull 'criminal background' from the internet. Usually regardless if it were bank robbery or a misdemener or maybe just a speeding ticket in some states. AND some states will purge records after 7 years or so.

    In any event, Wells (and any bank) is not iron clad bound by FDIC. Waivers are fairly easily granted - if applied for. Could be Wells just put the onus on Mr. Eggers because he is of retirement age, already. ... Or they just don't care.

    OR - and did you do any investigation, Dave? - Maybe the original crime was more serious than fake cardboard dimes.

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  • Moondoggie wrote...
    Good thing they didn't go after Jon Corzin
    September 3, 2012 8:49 am
    because going after a friend of Obama's would be racist.
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  • fartforce1 wrote...
    I wonder if this applies to tax cheats like Romney?
    September 3, 2012 9:13 am
    but then neither Corzin or Romney has ever been convicted so neither applies.
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  • tlmbrt wrote...
    @fartforce1
    September 3, 2012 10:40 am
    So, if you take advantage of all LEGAL means to minimize your tax bill, you're a "tax cheat" simply because someone says so? The argument that he "didn't pay enough" doesn't cut it. If you don't like the tax law, change it! You would and probably have done the same kind of thing, claiming whatever deductions and credits you were entitled to. The only reason he is being attacked is because he is wealthy and conservative. By the way, Obama, Pelosi and Reid are also filthy rich. This is hypocritical class warfare!
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  • maplefish wrote...
    Yo Fartforce
    September 3, 2012 11:24 am
    The IRS doesn't have any problems with Romney. It's only you PATHETIC Democrats that do. It really proves how desperate you idiots are because you can't talk about te real issues. Like $6 Trillion tax dollars wasted and no jobs. Like Obama being a complete & total FAILURE! And Wells Fargo Bank SUCKS! Regardless of who they fired. Anybody check to see if they paid back there Bail-out money yet?
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  • William Lawn wrote...
    He got amnesty, fart
    September 3, 2012 11:26 am
    The IRS had an amnesty program for unreported FBAR in 2009. 15,000 of our good citizens took advantage of that program.

    That is why he released 23 years of returns to McCain but has become as shy as schoolgirl at her first big dance about that 2009 return.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    Lawnboy - glad you know that for a fact.
    September 3, 2012 12:29 pm
    Even on HuffingtonPost, it's only speculation. Amazing how you (and CH - great team, or what?) can take the sketchiest reports, often from questionable sources, and run with them as fact. ... And yet, when YOUR team is cited, you demand every detail be proven.

    .

    Wait - I know your cop out already. YOUR post never says who "He" is.

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  • William Lawn wrote...
    Demand "every detail proven"?
    September 3, 2012 1:30 pm
    You mean something like our President not being a US citizen?

    And after all the evidence, you guys are STILL having that discussion?

    Yeah, ron, "every detail proven".

    Thanks for the laugh.

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  • ron prevost wrote...
    well, different evasion, mr. lawn
    September 3, 2012 5:00 pm
    after 1/20/2013, it won't matter if Obama was born on Mars. But that birther thing never was my gig anyway.

    But point being, you are throwing out a charge that (as I said) even HuffingtonPost has problems with. So, unless Rick Ungar has suddenly become a paragon of truth,..................

    It WOULD be easier to believe Obama was born on Mars.

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  • William Lawn wrote...
    See below or above ("rational")
    September 3, 2012 8:39 pm
    Thanks for the laugh.

    Could he be any better?

    Could he answer your question with any more skill?

    " every detail be proven"

    You guys are just perfect.

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  • rational wrote...
    William Lawn
    September 3, 2012 5:11 pm
    Not to defend birthers...but Obama claimed for 16 years that he was born in Kenya so it is at least understandable that some folks believed Obama's lies...can you provide proof that Romney claim for 16 years (or any years at all) that he was a tax cheat?
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  • forbes wrote...
    Cardboard firing
    September 3, 2012 4:35 pm
    At this rate Scooter Libby and Tom Delay's days are numbered.(any bets?)
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  • Kosh wrote...
    Please Prove
    September 3, 2012 9:38 am
    Romney is a tax cheat. That's what I thought, You cant !!!
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  • Kief Sloberman wrote...
    I hope nobody brings up Obama's 1995 lawsuit against Citibank
    September 3, 2012 11:18 am
    That was a pioneering mortgage discrimination lawsuit filed by Obama on behalf of 186 African-American clients who were then able to get into houses they could not afford. Only half of them have defaulted on their loans and gone bankrupt, so that's not such a bad result.

    After Citibank lost the suit, they were forced to lower their lending standards to minorities. These reparations are a worthy cause. Obama's typically white granny was a racist and this was his way of paying back his darker side. RWNJs will probably say that it was a Chicago style shakedown and contributed to the housing bubble....so let's keep it quiet...ok? Remember one thing, and repeat it over and over....Obama inherited this mess and played no part in creating it.

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  • Dizzle wrote...
    Really?
    September 3, 2012 11:33 am
    Are the trolls infesting this blog really that hard up for things to do that they not only consistently miss the point of what Dave Ross posts, but are compelled to flaunt their incapacity to do so?

    One of the symptoms of autism, fetal alcohol syndrome, and any form of mental retardation is an inability to detect irony; I suppose that must be what's going on.

    We get it: ironic analysis is beyond your cognitive abilities, and it probably feels good to try to bind with others who are equally mystified and frustrated by original thoughts. But must you do it here? Please move on, and forgive other people for having a bit of intelligence, a sense of humor, and a life.

    I truly hope you find the love you need.

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  • Kief Sloberman wrote...
    I'm with ya Dizzle
    September 3, 2012 12:40 pm
    these RWNJs are knuckle dragging retards. Dave Ross is so highly evolved that they are incapable of understanding the depth of his intellect and the hilarity of his wit. Their ignorance spoils all of the other intelligent liberal comments. It makes me sick.
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  • roomtemp wrote...
    "_and those rules apply to every bank employee_"
    September 3, 2012 12:56 pm
    Bwaahahaha*cough*ahahahaha...

    Is this the Wells Fargo you're talking about?

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-06-29/banks-financing-mexico-s-drug-cartels-admitted-in-wells-fargo-s-u-s-deal.html

    a snip- "No big U.S. bank -- Wells Fargo included -- has ever been indicted for violating the Bank Secrecy Act or any other federal law. Instead, the Justice Department settles criminal charges by using deferred-prosecution agreements, in which a bank pays a fine and promises not to break the law again."

    There are no laws for banks. Laws are only for their debt slaves...

    "Banks are under strict rules to make sure there's never again a 2008 debacle"

    What, pray tell, gave you the impression that the 'debacle' ever ended? Because we swept a few things under the rug with 16 trillion dollars of printed money? I don't think these guys are that stupid. What you'd call a debacle, I'd call a plan.

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  • Chuck Gould wrote...
    This guy doesn't need his job back
    September 3, 2012 7:33 pm
    He has a promising future working for either the Obama or Romney administration.

    It's rather obvious that neither of the two candidates will raise taxes, yet our expenses are so far out of control that no matter how much either party huffs and puffs nobody is going to blow the debt down.

    See if this guy fool our creditors into accepting cardboard dimes for payment...

    'Course, come to think of it, since there is no option except to *print* our way out of the mess we have been building since Clinton left office, we're going to be offering our creditors cardboard dimes, anyway.

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  • hpitantso wrote...
    Tax cheater
    September 4, 2012 8:57 pm
    Romney off shore banking, and Swiss Bank account are unamerican for American President GOP. Like a US company in name only everything sold nothing made here all taxes avoided.
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