MUSKOGEE – A McAlester man who admitted committing bank fraud 16 months ago was sentenced July 11 to three months in federal prison and was ordered to pay more than $30,000 in restitution.
Bradley Scott Sutterfield, 43, pleaded guilty March 5 to cashing counterfeit savings bonds at banks in Coweta and McAlester, and attempting to cash bogus bonds at a bank in Checotah.
Sutterfield told the court that he was approached by a friend and two strangers, one of whom asked Sutterfield whether he would like to make some money by cashing savings bonds. He said he was told that “the purpose of transferring the savings bonds” in his own name was “to allow the individual to avoid tax liabilities.”
Sutterfield subsequently admitted he “was aware of sufficient facts to know there was a high probability that the bonds were fraudulent.”
Nevertheless, he entered First National Bank of Coweta on March 27, 2023, and presented two $5,000 savings bonds for redemption. In exchange he received $21,900, the value of the bonds and accrued interest.
The next day Sutterfield entered The Bank N.A. in McAlester and presented for redemption two $5,000 savings bonds in his name. He was paid $25,548, the value of the bonds plus accrued interest.
Later that same day Sutterfield entered Peoples National Bank of Checotah and presented for redemption two counterfeit savings bonds: one for $5,000 and the other for $10,000, both bearing his name.
Apparently that plan failed. His plea agreement stated that if the bank had allowed Sutterfield to cash out those two savings bonds he would have received a payment of $33,432 constituting the face value of the bonds plus accrued interest.
If the scheme had succeeded a third time, Sutterfield’s haul would have totaled $80,880, federal investigators and prosecutors noted.
The felony bank fraud charge against Sutterfield was filed Feb. 28, 2024, in Muskogee’s Eastern District federal court.
With his guilty plea Sutterfield agreed to make “full restitution” of $47,448, the combined payouts from the banks in Coweta and McAlester. When he was arrested last year, $16,840 in cash was seized from him, and at his sentencing the court ordered him to pay the remaining $30,608 balance.
Sutterfield was released from custody on an unsecured $10,000 bond after pleading guilty to the federal fraud charge March 5.
One month later he was arrested by McAlester police for larceny of merchandise from a retailer. Sutterfield was accused of shoplifting miscellaneous items with a collective value of less than $1,000 from a local Walmart store.
Subsequently he was charged in Pittsburg County District Court with petty larceny, but the prosecutor dismissed the case on May 13; no explanation why was included in the court record.
Sutterfield received a deferred two-year prison sentence in 2010 after pleading guilty in Pittsburg County District Court to knowingly concealing stolen property and larceny of merchandise from a retailer.