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Wells Fargo Sued By 63-Year-Old Pastor They Wrongfully Accused of Forging Checks (nj.com)
Wells Fargo has been hit with a lawsuit from a 63-year-old pastor at the United Methodist Church of Parsippany. Wells Fargo sent his ATM photos to the police, which he says led to false arrest, malicious prosecution -- and humiliation. NJ.com reports:
In the lawsuit filed Thursday in Morris County Superior Court, attorneys for the 63-year-old pastor sought unspecified damages against Wells Fargo, which has come under fire over a series of scandals in recent years. Also named were the State Police detectives who originally brought the charges against him last year after bank security officials allegedly mistakenly identified a photo of Edwards taken at an ATM machine as a suspect in a series of fraudulent check deposits....
In the lawsuit, Edwards' attorney wrote that Wells Fargo notified the State Police when it discovered the bogus transactions, and the bank was asked to provide any still photos or video images taken from the ATM at Parsippany where some of the checks were deposited and later cashed out. The bank sent photos of Edwards, who had made his own deposit of checks at the same ATM the very same day, according to the complaint...
The pastor said he first discovered he was the focus of a criminal investigation last year after a parishioner texted him a State Police Facebook posting requesting the public's help identifying a man suspected of depositing fraudulent checks at an ATM... In an interview, Edwards said after seeing the post, he called the detectives and shared a copy of his banking transactions to show he had not deposited the fraudulent checks. "I thought it would clear things up," he said. "They said all their information was from Wells Fargo..." Last September, Edwards said he was asked to come down to the State Police station in Holmdel. After he got there, he said he was shocked to find out he was being arrested and charged with third degree forgery. When he protested and said somebody made an error, he said one of the investigators asked him if the case did go to trial, who would the jury believe -- a bank security expert or him?
"They fingerprinted me. Took my mug shot and gave me a court date," he said.
The case fell apart, but the 63-year-old pastor says he never received an apology from the police, or from Wells Fargo. "The carelessness of both Wells Fargo and the State Police is kind of appalling, and I wonder what happens to somebody who might not have the resources to defend themselves," the pastor told NJ.com. "I told them yes that was my picture and yes I was in the bank that day. That's all they needed to arrest me."
A spokesman for Wells Fargo told the reporter they'd be unable to comment "since this is a pending legal matter." But the story was submitted to Slashdot by someone claiming to be pastor Jeff Edwards. "Wells Fargo carelessly provided ATM pictures [of] me to the state police in a fraudulent check investigation that led to my arrest," reads the original submission.
"The case was dismissed when it was demonstrated that Wells Fargo had been grossly irresponsible."
In the lawsuit, Edwards' attorney wrote that Wells Fargo notified the State Police when it discovered the bogus transactions, and the bank was asked to provide any still photos or video images taken from the ATM at Parsippany where some of the checks were deposited and later cashed out. The bank sent photos of Edwards, who had made his own deposit of checks at the same ATM the very same day, according to the complaint...
The pastor said he first discovered he was the focus of a criminal investigation last year after a parishioner texted him a State Police Facebook posting requesting the public's help identifying a man suspected of depositing fraudulent checks at an ATM... In an interview, Edwards said after seeing the post, he called the detectives and shared a copy of his banking transactions to show he had not deposited the fraudulent checks. "I thought it would clear things up," he said. "They said all their information was from Wells Fargo..." Last September, Edwards said he was asked to come down to the State Police station in Holmdel. After he got there, he said he was shocked to find out he was being arrested and charged with third degree forgery. When he protested and said somebody made an error, he said one of the investigators asked him if the case did go to trial, who would the jury believe -- a bank security expert or him?
"They fingerprinted me. Took my mug shot and gave me a court date," he said.
The case fell apart, but the 63-year-old pastor says he never received an apology from the police, or from Wells Fargo. "The carelessness of both Wells Fargo and the State Police is kind of appalling, and I wonder what happens to somebody who might not have the resources to defend themselves," the pastor told NJ.com. "I told them yes that was my picture and yes I was in the bank that day. That's all they needed to arrest me."
A spokesman for Wells Fargo told the reporter they'd be unable to comment "since this is a pending legal matter." But the story was submitted to Slashdot by someone claiming to be pastor Jeff Edwards. "Wells Fargo carelessly provided ATM pictures [of] me to the state police in a fraudulent check investigation that led to my arrest," reads the original submission.
"The case was dismissed when it was demonstrated that Wells Fargo had been grossly irresponsible."
It's the 'Guilty until proven innocent' game again.
Ok, Wells Fargo made an error.
But it was the police who arrested the guy, instead of just knocking on the door at an appropriate time, and asking some questions.
What on earth was their justification for making an arrest first? Was he considered a flight risk?
The district attorney should recharge him for the same crime just quell the lawsuit. When prosecutors feels that they can not win the case then they should dismiss the case and wait a while to recharge him again. That way, the county will not have to face a lawsuit.
The guy's first mistake was thinking he could somehow talk to the police himself and "clear things up". You will never, ever succeed at that. Always consult a lawyer first, and always have your lawyer talk to the police on your behalf. And I haven't seen a link to James Duane's famous Don't Talk to the Police video in a while, which explains why this is the case a lot better than I could in a couple of paragraphs.
That people still bank there after all the shit they've pulled just blows my mind. Even banking at a bank instead of a credit union I don't understand.
The police had evidence (from WF) so they got a warrant from a judge and arrested the pastor. They just chose to disbelieve the pastor's version of events.
Ok, Wells Fargo made an error.
But it was the police who arrested the guy, instead of just knocking on the door at an appropriate time, and asking some questions.
What on earth was their justification for making an arrest first? Was he considered a flight risk?
Banks have a lot of resources. They employ a lot of lawyers which they can use against individuals who are annoying (not the dangerous kind)
For the dangerous kind, on the other hand, bank usually call the cops.
So you are the cops. You received a complaint from a uuuuuuge bank, against a certain individual.
As a cop, what do you wanna do?
I mean, the bank already call the cops, which means, that individual could be armed and dangerous, capishe?
Repeat after me people:
DON'T talk to the cops without a lawyer!
Because wells fargo provided wrong pictures and the police just went on with it with the premise that he should confess EVEN IF HE WAS INNOCENT because if it went to court he would be railroaded anyways and would get higher charges. he didn't do it but they were so ready to assume that it was him that they probably went more than a little bit too far with just trying to get him to confess.
it's worth suing both the police and wells fargo really, since it's in the usa. that it's in the usa is also why it can cause personal loss worth suing over as well as .. well, that's just what you gotta do in usa.
it's pinpointing a thing that is majorly wrong with the usa legal system at the moment and as such well worth suing for. It is the system trying to coerce you to give up your right for a fair trial(by pleading guilt on whatever they randomly choose as the crime that time) by pressuring on the fear that you will not receive a fair trial.
"you better plead guilty because otherwise you'll be convicted on stuff you didn't do anyways".
a lot of why that system got into the place at is today is the notion that "it only happens to people who deserve it" or that they did something anyways, so who cares, just convict them of something. it's barbaric and stupid. but somehow americans keep voting in people who base their campaigns on just doubling down on the stupidity.
---
and it is mugshot not a comparison photo, that it was him in the photo was never contested. it's not for that purpose. the mugshot and publishing them (before trial) is for shaming purposes, which again seems like a good idea as long as it never happens to you.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
Anybody still using Wells Fargo as a bank at this time should be charged - with criminal stupidity.
That is all.
It's New Jersey. The guy is guilty... of something! Who but criminals would live in ... NEW JERSEY ... and waste time on slashdot?!
To arrest? Your right but, this is what Ive never understood...
[($)]
Fuck Wells-Fargo and the moustache they rode in on. The entire company is grossly incompetent.
I have nothing of value to add here, just, you know, fuck 'em.
Donâ(TM)t take legal advice from internet. Gotcha. The pastor Acted in good faith;) to resolve. The Bank and at least one of the police did not reciprocate. The pastor has grounds for damages and has a fair chance of a decent settlement for his troubles. The police were obliged to arrest but could have been more objective. WF yet another goof up and will cost $. As the saying goes lord works in mysterious ways. Poetic justice. Yes have little faith.
I don't get the header. Shouldn't that be kept short and to the point? What relevance does a person's age or occupation have in a case such as this? Have 60+ers never committed a crime? Have clergy never committed a crime?
They have tainted all possible jurors and the case must now be dismissed,
Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.
Wells-Fargo is a criminal organization. It has been proven time and time again. At this point, if you're a person who can read, there's literally no excuse to be "banking" with these assholes. I know it sounds like hyperbole, especially considering they're one of the largest commercial banks in the US, but the facts don't lie. They are a criminal organization being run by absolute idiots. Put your money into a local credit union that has a good track record. In the US, where we have laws that favor the largest corporations over individuals, bigger is not usually better.
I don't respond to AC's.
Sadly some bank employees often do not even attempt to analyse anything. They spend the smallest amount of time/effort to finish the task, for example forward some data without validating it.
There are numerous cases where banks freeze people's account for debt recovery, while the original order was on a different person with the same name. You would think this should never happen as there is (on order and in accoint) a lot of additional information that should match in order to validate the order, such as birthdate, official address, ID, yet time and time again bank employees just click on the first account that comes up in "search for first name last name" field in their system.
It takes months to correct such mistake (and get access to your money), as when you raise the problem the bank will go full "let's do it totally formally now like an insurance company" way with YOU having to convince the system it is their mistake.
If he has an account with Wells Fargo then one of the things he had to agree to was mandatory arbitration.
You'd think a pastor would be able to trust that his word would be taken seriously and in good faith, but not even our pillars of the community get the benefit of the doubt anymore.
Why should being a pastor give anyone a pass? Someone who makes their living telling people that they should believe in an invisible man in the sky and a special book and give the church money or they will burn can easily be interpreted as a con man. No I don't really think that this person is a con artist (not intentionally anyway) but I'm puzzled by people who think being a religious leader somehow makes a person automatically trustworthy or a "pillar of the community". If anything I regard religious leaders as more suspect than most because they are selling hope on a false (or at least unverifiable) premise. Many religious leaders abuse the trust placed in them - see how the Catholic church continues to employ and protect pedophiles for a prominent example.
I fully agree that this case was handled extremely badly and that this guy probably is a good and decent person. I'm fully aware that Wells Fargo is a company run by untrustworthy asshats with plenty of evidence to back that up. I don't agree that his choice of vocation should grant him any special privileges any more than you or me. That's how abuses of position and power happen.
The police are not on your side, unfortunately. Don't talk to them without a lawyer, you will get burned.
You are correct that they are not on your side and that you should be very careful in your dealings with them. However it is no axiomatic that you will get burned. Most of the time the cops are decent people trying their best to do the right thing. The problem is you can't tell when they aren't so you have to defend yourself by being careful in your dealings with them because it can backfire horribly if you aren't careful.
You canâ(TM)t make a deposit without using a bank pass. Wouldnâ(TM)t they start with the person associated with that? If this was a stolen pass, why wasnâ(TM)t it blocked? It sounds to me that the bank didnâ(TM)t really look into it.
demand jury trail!
and the 3rd party atm in the quickie mart is in sync 100% or on line 24/7. Some may still be on dial up.
ask are am I free to go? and if they say no then say I want an attorney
Sadly some bank employees often do not even attempt to analyse anything. They spend the smallest amount of time/effort to finish the task, for example forward some data without validating it.
That would make them exactly like some percent of employees in literally every other job you could possibly mention. I have yet to see a company without some percent of employees that fit exactly your description.
Here in the UK - on which much of your American system is based - we have varying levels of "being spoken to" by the police.
Often, the first thing that police will do is ask you down to the station to "assist with their enquiries". This is very much understood to mean that the person could well be a witness, an expert, or just someone who happens to be helpful to the case. If the police say that someone is "helping with their enquiries", it's usually because they either don't have the evidence to actually *point the finger* at someone, or because that person is genuinely helping them.
However, if the police think they've got something on you, they will arrest you and proceed to *interview you under caution*. This is very different to the above; if you're a journalist, you'll be smelling blood at this point.
So for us in the UK, being arrested implies a certain level of guilt, or belief of guilt by the police, even if that doesn't include handcuffs and a prison cell. With that in mind, he's quite right to be upset; the cops didn't even do the most basic of checks before they went from "helping us with enquiries" to "this dude is clearly guilty"
As a side note, plenty of people are arrested here everyday without having to be held captive; in fact most experienced criminals will "come gently", because they will usually be treated as a human being, no matter how bad their crime. Put up a fight on the other hand, and it's the handcuffs and the rough treatment.
Yes, and it would appear that being a man of the cloth provides you absolutely zero credibility these days with regards to that as well.
Why on earth should being a "man of the cloth" provide any special credibility? If anything it should be a strike against them given that they are in most cases literally selling a false and/or unverifiable claims of the supernatural. (those churches get built with real money that came from someone and someone pays the pastor's salary) They get away with it mostly because of social tradition but it's not difficult to make the case that what they are doing fits the description of fraud or at the very least a hoax. I'm not saying this guy is (intentionally) doing anything reprehensible but he doesn't deserve any special trust or credibility just because he preaches on Sunday.
The cops (scum) did try to pressure him -- it doesn't matter, they thought they found a patsy.
The cops are overworked people who get rewarded (promotions, more pay, peer respect) by results. Therefore they will take a two-dimensional view through a three-dimensional person, say "this 2D line fits this image", and stitch you up.
Sometimes that is true and there is evidence to support that point of view in many places. But I happen to be personal friends with a number of cops and that description is not one size fits all. Not even close. A lot of them really are genuine public servants trying to do a good job. Their incentives have been unfortunately warped in an unfortunate direction sometimes but most of them that I've interacted with are aware of this fact and try their best to not be influenced by it when it happens. They aren't robots with no awareness of the social implications of what they are asked to do. It's actually because of that fact that when they do step over the line and start violating civil rights that it becomes that much more inexcusable because in most cases they know what they are doing is wrong.
Unfortunately the combination of arrogance and stupidity shown by Wells Fargo is all too common. Trump is another prime example.
That kind of retort honestly makes me think that the investigator who said that was involved in a conspiracy to frame the guy.
Who says that except someone who knows that they are lying, or at least consciously realizes there is some significant probability that the information they have is in error.
Nobody with any integrity would ever say "who will the jury believe" when the credibility of their accusation is challenged... they would retort with "we have proof", or something to that effect.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
An attorney in the family told me that the best and most appropriate thing to tell the LEOs is,
"I want to speak to my attorney".
And to say nothing without the presence and counsel of my attorney.
It is better to be more suspicious (in this type of situation) than trusting.
Are not, have not, will not, nor ever will be, Joe citizen's fucking 'friend'. You are the fucking enemy to them, and you always will be. The sooner people get that through their goddamn thick fucking skulls, the better society will become.
You dial 911 and/or interact with them for any fucking reason whatsoever at your own peril. Sad, but true.
As for those Wells Fargo fucks...that company has been a pack of convicted fraudsters and felons for a long time now. Read the court documents from their numerous fucking convictions. The fucking stagecoach robbers simply took up pens instead of pistols and became the 'bankers'. Again, sad but true.
While Priests, Rabbis, Pastors, Imams, etc have taken a hit in recent years, there is still a certain level of respect that should be afforded to community leaders, especially older ones in good legal standing.
That doesn't mean you won't prove they are guilty by the end of your investigation, but these guys ASSUMED he was guilty without a burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt (this would have been felony fraud, would it not?) As such they were maliciously wrong in this case and the only thing that saved him was the fact that he WAS a pastor, had the social and political backing of his church, knew he was innocent AND had faith that God was on his side, plus of course financial backing of his church to defend him. Many people lack one or more of those options when being faced with legal threats from the police and have to make the hard choice between knowing they can't prove their case in court, innocent or not, and being forever labelled a criminal for taking the plea deal, that might be the only way they avoid all/most jail time in order to keep the financial aspects of their life from collapsing as a result of the gross miscarriage of justice.
It may be time for people to start using extralegal pressure or punitive action on police like this. We can't seem to keep them in line by the institutions meant to defend us from lazy, malicious, or corrupt cops, but that doesn't mean there aren't other ways they can be dealt with.
They were just trusting experts. Social media loves experts. In the past we blindly accepting the pastor as the word as truth. Today we trust experts. If an expert says global warming is caused by Donald Trump (aka Satan), who are we to disagree. If an expert says we must vaccinate, we must vacinate. Let us erase all hertical teachings from Amazon. If a corporate expert in bank security says a figure head aka pastor, from the old world order is stealing, the cops must arrest him.
Dont judge the cops too harshly, they are just like you and me, and following the rules laid out by the experts such as Wells fargo bank security, and Bill Nye the science guy.
We just have a conflict of world views. The old world view aka church and God is departing to be replaced by a new world of social justice and belief in experts
Individualism is always a crime. Individual thought must always bow down before the voice of the mob. It has always worked this way, and always will. Cops are no more allowed to make individual choices than you or me. If the system says arrest, they must arrest
I am now 100% confident that the pastor of this church is white because only white people trust the police or entertain the prospect that they are fair and/or can be reasoned with. Black people know better. No black person would voluntarily go down to a police station except under the expressed direction of a lawyer (who was present) to "clear things up" for fear of being locked up on the spot. Unfortunately as terrible as this situation was, it was a necessary evil because the reality is that America will never entertain police reform for so long as police abuse happens to minorities. Besides that, in most cases only a white guy would even have the resources and the audacity to take on a bank and a police department. Economic disparities in America would leave most black people feeling that they had no other choice than to take a plea deal. As I read this story, I must admit that part of me laughed (not at his demise but at his outrage) because he probably doesn't understand that his tragedy is that he's basically been treated by the police as they would treat minorities because no black or hispanic person reads this story and thinks anything other than "DUH".
Actually, it isn't!
Bigotry is disgusting -- yours, mine, or anyone's.
As far as I can tell, Wells Fargo is largely a very poorly concealed criminal enterprise.
Wells Fargo has now cast reasonable doubt on every conviction based on their ATM photos. Every defendant going forward is going to raise the same question.
They're going to have trouble getting police to act based on their photos as well.
For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion(operation of wandering)(planet) so that they will believe the lie.
Mystery Red of the Great American Eclipse
It has blood on it!
ABCNews: Eclipse makes pendulum wander
Losing my religion
Sun researchers find strange eclipse reading
in practice it usually means Wells Fargo can drag the case out another few years, adding significantly to the cost. Meaning that even if he wins it'll be a pyrrhic victory where most of the money goes to lawyers. In lawsuits it's not always about winning outright, it's about outlasting the other side.
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Over the decades, I've had many Wells accounts, usually because they take over a bank that I was doing business with. With ALL of these accounts, Wells made mistakes. All sorts of mistakes, from sending a wrong mortgage contract, to screwing up change of address that resulted in collections, to wrong checking fees, quoting false safe deposit box fees, escheating an account without any notice, etc. I've closed all my Wells accounts, except the mortgage, unfortunately, which would be expensive to do.
A Methodist pastor undoubtedly would have preached about forgiveness many times, that being one of the primary Christian principles.
This would have been a perfect chance for the pastor to forgive Wells Fargo and the police. But, NOOOO!
I'd like to listen to his next sermon and see what he has to say for himself.
If he was a black guy, he'd still be in jail!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
The Bible talks about forgiving your brother ... but if you start extending it to companies where does it end? Forgiving bad algorithms? Forgiving viruses? Forgiving bad ideas? Forgiving overly patternized wall paper textures? Forgiving hypothetical mistakes people could have made?
If you can forgive everything it means forgiveness isn't a thing to you.
The age old adage still applies... never talk to the police. The police are law enforcers, they are not there to protect you. Sometimes when they act as enforcers they protect you, but you should never confuse the relationship between cause and effect.
I hate those fucking faggots with an unhindered passion. Dieeee
Unbelievable
Wells Fargo is awful.
Shame on Wells Fargo!
Good luck to Pastor Jeff â" someone needs to hold them accountable!
This could happen to anyone! Read and share!
But the story was submitted to Slashdot by someone claiming to be pastor Jeff Edwards.
The 63 year old pastor suddenly joined Slashdot and shared this?
For more of their crooked activities:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/every-wells-fargo-consumer-scandal-since-2015-timeline-194946222.html
Nice to know that IBM isn't the only one that practices FUD. Trow enough of that against religion and people will leave for a more socially acceptable belief.
As a pastor, he has presumably lied many times about the existence of a god.
Why should we trust him on other matters?
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I can understand a hastily made mistake - but this is just yet another example of how Wells Fargo should just not be in business anymore. They're messing with people's lives!
The question should have been "Who's the jury going to believe? A pastor or a bank that has defrauded thousands of people?"
I hope he counter sues and wins a big amount which he can use for some good.
I don't understand this comment from the bank:
...and a bank employee said they couldn't automatically connect photographs with check numbers, but offered to hand write the check numbers on the photos...
Uh, if they couldn't automatically connect photographs with check numbers... what the hell were they writing on the photos? Where did those numbers come from?
Whenever there's a huge police brutality settlement in LA or NYC, it's not the taxpayers paying for it directly, but the city's insurance company. But, maybe it wouldn't be such a bad thing if citizens periodically saw their "Brutality Tax" rise three quarters of a percent the way they see their sales taxes go up, as they would be more motivated to demand reform.
Talk about character assasination.
else live up to your crippled interpretation of it.
Forgiveness indeed.... for those who admit their error and stop and try to make ammends. Strictly speaking, there is no way to forgive somebody who does not want and ask for forgiveness. There is no Biblical command for Christians or Jews or anybody else to be a gullible, easy, constant victim who invites continual abuse from everybody by just airheadedly pretending all the bad actors around them have asked to be forgiven. By your simple-minded and most likely very ill-educated view, a woman should be busy forgiving her rapist while she's being raped and again as he prepares to rape her again and then perhaps kill her?
Don't double-down in your ignorance by bringing up Christ's statement about turning the other cheek either.
Hint#1: how many cheeks do you have?
Hint#2: which cheek was cited and why?
Hint#3: Why a cheek and not some other body part?
If you are not going to selectively grab three or four sentences from any other book and use them as life rules for other people, then do not do it with a Bible. The Bible was not written as a pile of stand-alone fortune cookie "verses". It is a complex tome of letters, poems, songs, and books, all of which were written as complete works and not as piles of random numbered sentences. The verse numbers are a navigation system hold over from earlier times when Bibles were hand copied and were in various text sizes on various page sizes and a given sentence would end up in a different place on a different page from copy to copy. Yes, people familiar with the Bible will often refer to specific verses, but it's with the assumption that all parties to the conversation are aware of the adjacent text and full context.
Good luck suing the police. In most cases they are given immunity to civil suits. I don't know the specifics in this jurisdiction, but usually, if they acted in good faith, all they have to do is demonstrate it. If they were acting in bad faith, the appealant would have to prove to a fairly high standard (for civil court) both that they did indeed act in bad faith, and that it caused them real damages. "Humiliation" isn't a damage that I can think of any case law supporting it being awarded as a damage as a result of police action.
Disgraceful by Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo will never get my business.