Tacoma banker sentenced for bilking non-profit

He lied about his credentials and got a job at Northwest Commercial Bank, and now he’ll pay with jail time and a hefty fee for defrauding a non-profit organization.

Jeffery R. Goodell was sentenced to four years in prison, as well as five years of supervised release and $917,204 in restitution.

U.S. District Attorney Jenny Durkin said Goodell lied about is education to get a job at the bank. He then used his position as a loan officer to fund cash disbursements to friends, associates and potential bank customers.

His line of credits of the activity came from the Tacoma Rescue Mission.

“While he was [employed by the bank], he created 19 fake emails directing the bank to send money from the Tacoma Rescue Mission’s accounts to various individuals, approximately 10 different individuals and businesses,” explained Assistant U.S. Attorney Arlen Storm.

The fraud occurred over six months and the total loss was approximately $1.3 million.

“He helped recruit the Tacoma Rescue Mission to the bank and while he was not personally in charge of it, he certainly took advantage of it,” said Storm.

When a bank executive grew suspicious, Goodell had a friend impersonate the executive director of the organization on the phone to say the transactions were authorized, according to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.

When executives first noticed a depletion in their account, attorneys said Goodell sent them a new, falsified statement, saying the previous statement was an error.

According to U.S. District Attorneys, in order to keep the fraud going Goodell eventually shaved his head, claiming he had been diagnosed with cancer and needed to save up his annual leave.

Prosecutors instead believe Goodell didn’t want to take leave or be away from the bank because of the risk his scheme would be discovered. Goodell was fired by the bank in December 2010.

KIRO Radio’s Seth Keller contributed to this report.