Bank President Pleads Guilty

We are learning new details about a former Polk County banker who's scheme to defraud his own bank cost shareholders and taxpayers millions of dollars.

65-year-old Jimmy Goddard used to be the president of the Benton Banking Company but now he's looking at federal prison time that could keep him behind bars for the remainder of his life. Two other men who the government says were part of one of the schemes are waiting for their day in court.

What we heard in Chattanooga's U.S. District Court sounds so familiar these days. It's a story about people who are entrusted to run financial institutions and are caught running schemes to make their own wallets fatter while sticking taxpayers with the tab to clean up their mess.

After the hearing we asked Goddard if he would like to say anything as he left the Federal Courthouse but he quietly told us "no, not today, thanks."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble said "he was stealing the bank's money, no doubt about it, that's what's alleged and that's what he pleaded guilty to."

Goddard pleaded guilty to two felony counts of misappropriation of bank funds in a plea-agreement deal with federal prosecutors.

While president of Benton Banking Company the government said Goddard illegally skimmed money from the bank from 1993 to 2007. So what did he do with the money?

"Home improvements, travel and even income taxes," Humble answered.

Humble said Goddard also illegally used bank funds to pay a nearly $12,000 American Express bill.

But that's not all. Federal investigators say Goddard developed a scheme with two men, Timothy Parks and Mark Mourier, who operated an automobile floor mat company called Remington Industries. The Delano-based company moved it's operations to China according to Humble.  

The Polk County business was failing but the federal indictment says Goddard got "...loans to and on behalf of Remington Industries, knowing that Remington Industries was not credit worthy." The federal indictment goes on to say Parks, Mourier and Goddard schemed to get Benton Banking Company to make fraudulent loans in an effort to keep the business afloat.

"... such loans being made in the name of another person or entity, but intended to benefit Remingon Industries," the indictment reads.

A list of the fraudulent loans which the government says cost the bank millions of dollars is included, and it shows one large loan at $2.25-million, with many others in the $200,000 range. The loans totaled more than $6-million more than the bank had in reserves.

The Remington Industries case is still pending in federal court. But Benton Banking Company went out of business leaving shareholders, customers and ultimately taxpayers in the lurch.

"The deposits are federally insured and that's of course why it's a federal case, because taxpayers are the ones who foot the bill when the bank goes under," Humble explained.

At one time Benton Banking Company stock was worth $91 a share. Shareholders told us in late 2007 when we broke the story that they lost between $100,000 and $2-million each when the bank went under.

Goddard will be sentenced July 9 and faces 30 years in federal prison on each of the two counts he pleaded guilty to.