The former president of Phoenix-based American Bantrust Mortgage Services Corp. has been sentenced to 37 months in prison in connection with a $3.4 million bank fraud case.
Roger Duane Mason, 60, pleaded guilty in December to conspiring to commit bank fraud and was ordered to pay $3.4 million in restitution to the bank he defrauded in a check-kiting scheme, 1st National Bank of Arizona.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix, Mason and ABM Services Corp.’s former treasurer, Sheila Johnson, were indicted on Dec. 14, 2004, on 14 counts of bank fraud and one count of conspiracy. Between December 2002 and July 2003, Johnson wrote checks with insufficient funds to cover other checks to conceal the fact that ABM Services Corp. had a negative balance, prosecutors said. Mason allegedly drew $1.3 million in salary advances despite the fact that the company was overdrawn.
Mason was sentenced by Judge James Teilberg in U.S. District Court, The Arizona Republic reports. Johnson, who also pleaded guilty, is awaiting sentencing.
