Police: Minnetonka Man Swindled TCF Bank Out of $50K

A 55-year-old Minnetonka man is accused of stealing nearly $50,000 from TCF Bank through a check kiting scam two years ago, according to court documents filed earlier this month.

Check kiting is a method of fraud that happens when someone uses a bad check to deposit money into an account and then withdraws money from the account before the bank can discover that the check was bad.

TCF Bank and Secretary of State records show that Nippert Chatfield Smith had three accounts at the bank under the names of Lakes Mortgage Consulting, Mortgage Executives LLC, Minnetonka Police Officer Markham Stock wrote in the charging documents. Smith also had two accounts at Real Financial Credit Union under the names of Blaze Commercial Funding and American Home Finance.

According to the court documents, Smith used those accounts to make three series of false deposits and withdrawals:

• TCF Bank recorded that he deposited four bad checks into his Lakes Mortgage Consulting Account between April 7 and 12, 2011. He then made a withdrawals between April 8 and 13, 2011—leaving a negative balance of about $20,000.
• TCF records also show that he deposited two bad checks into his Suntrust Financial account April 11, 2011, and made a withdrawal the following day that left the account with a negative balance of about $10,000.
• And those records show that he made a series of deposits and withdrawals into his Mortgage Executives account that left him with a negative balance of about $20,000.

In all, TCF Bank suffered losses of about $48,000.

Smith was seen in surveillance footage depositing bad checks and making withdrawals at numerous locations throughout the Twin Cities, and he did not report any fraudulent activity on any of his bank accounts, according to the court documents.

Prosecutors have charged Smith with theft by swindling (more than $35,000)—a felony that carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $100,000 fine.

He is not in custody.