Tuesday, August 10, 1999
It erred, but bank wants its money
Funds went astray, paid for funeral
BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
When Clyde Benjamin Reed found an unexpected $183,516.11 in his savings account at Fifth Third Bank, he gave relatives $18,000 and prepaid his own funeral.
“It was good financial planning,” undertaker the Rev. Joseph R. Garr said Monday.
Then, last month, Fifth Third officials said the money wasn't his to begin with because it had mistakenly credited three wire transfers to Mr. Reed's account.
Mr. Reed had spent three weeks in jail but was released Wednesday when federal grand jurors refused to indict him on charges of bank fraud and theft.
On Sunday, he died at University Hospital after a stroke.
“Jailing him killed him,” said his sister, Darlene Williams, of Kennedy Heights. “The stress ...”
Now, the bank wants the Rev. Mr. Garr to return Mr. Reed's $3,030 funeral payment and insisted Mr. Reed's sister repay the $13,000 her brother gave her from the windfall.
The Rev. Mr. Garr said he would not give up any money without a court order.
“We'll fight,” he said. “We don't just give money up and have to account to relatives what we did with it.”
Mr. Reed, a 59-year-old Over-the-Rhine resident, lived on $500 a month Social Security. He was expecting an inheritance from an aunt, and when his bank balance began soaring, he thought that's where the money was coming from, Miss Williams said.
As the deposits mounted, Miss Williams said, she and Mr. Reed went to a Fifth Third branch and were assured the three wire transfers from a New York investment firm between Oct. 14 and Feb. 8 were his.
So Mr. Reed began withdrawing the money, most ofit between Christmas and February. Besides prepaying his funeral and giving his sister a gift, he bought a van for a friend and divided $5,000 between a niece and nephew.
By July, Fifth Third realized its mistake. Its fraud investigators tracked down the money and called in the FBI.
Before his death, Mr. Reed had led investigators to all but $50,000. Part went to the Garr funeral home; the rest has not been accounted for.
The Rev. Mr. Garr said he will fulfill his contract and hold a graveside service at 10 a.m. Wednesday at Wesleyan Cemetery, 4003 Colerain Ave., Northside.
Miss Williams said Fifth Third is threatening to sue over her refusal to return $13,000. She said no one has asked her to return the van so she told the friend to keep it. However, FBI Agent Kevin Gormley confiscated $2,500 bonds Mr. Reed gave to each of her two children, Miss Wil liams said.
Repayment demands were not unreasonable, Assistant U.S. Attorney John DiPuccio said. Miss Williams disagrees.
“Fifth Third keeps saying they made the mistake,” she said. “My brother did not make a mistake. ... Why do we have to pay for their mistake?”
After Mr. Reed was arrested, Fifth Third spokeswoman Robbie Jennings refused to say how three wire transfers went astray or why it took so long to seek FBI help.
She could not be reached for comment Monday.
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