Bank’s $280,000 mistake is Pa. man’s misfortune

Bank’s $280,000 mistake is Pa. man’s misfortune

By Peter Mucha

Inquirer Staff Writer

Let this be a lesson: If a bank puts too much money - way too much money - into your account, be afraid.

Be very afraid.

Do not jump for joy.

Last October, First Commonwealth Bank mistakenly deposited $280,276.76 into the account of a retired Altoona couple, Herbert and Becky Starbird.

On that much, the two sides agree.

The bank got much of the money back, but says it's still missing more than half - $157,206.12, according to Altoona police.

On Tuesday, police charged Herbert Starbird was charged with two counts of theft - one for receiving stolen property, another for "Theft of Property Lost, Mislaid, or Delivered by Mistake," as specified in Pennsylvania's criminal code.

Finders keepers?

More like: keepers weepers.

After his arrest, Starbird was released on $50,000 unsecured bail, pending a Wednesday hearing, according to Detective Scott Koehle.

In May, the Starbirds' attorney, Thomas M. Dickey, said the couple initially tried to return the money, but were told more than once by bank personnel there was no mistake.

So the Starbirds started spending some of the money.

"That's what you normally do with money," Dickey said in the spring. "I can't get into details."

After the bank discovered the error and contacted the Starbirds in February, "we began some good faith negotiations to pay the money back," Dickey said.

But negotiations apparently failed to resolve the matter, and Dickey wondered how the Starbirds might do in court.

"Believe me, this is no slam dunk. ... Who knows what a jury might do?" he said.

About three weeks ago, the bank decided to press criminal charges, asserting that Starbird never informed the bank of the error, Koehle said.

Bank workers were interviewed by police.

"No one recalls any conversation regarding $280,00 being misdelivered," Koehle said.

Initial attempts to contact Dickey this morning were unsuccessful, but he told the Altoona Mirror that Starbird will plead not guilty.

---

Contact staff writer Peter Mucha at 215-854-4342 or pmucha@phillynews.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.