MB man sentenced to jail time for bank fraud

FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) - A Myrtle Beach man has been sentenced to nearly two years in prison after pleading guilty to bank fraud.

Back in November 2011, US States Attorney Bill Nettles reported that 39-year-old Joseph Robert Guernsey of Myrtle Beach and 33-year-old Benedict Olberding of Mooresville, NC pleaded guilty to bank fraud.

Evidence of those crimes suggested the two men were involved in a scheme to defraud various financial institutions between March 2007 and June 2009.

"In furtherance of the scheme, Olberding paid Guernsey $183,000.00 to get someone to purchase Olberding's beach house in Myrtle Beach. Olberding was a North Carolina mortgage broker and Guernsey owned and operated Southern Auto Sales in Myrtle Beach at the time. They applied for loans totaling $1,000,000.00 falsely claiming the purchaser was working for Guernsey making $15,000.00 per month, and the purchase was for a primary residence," the attorney said.

Guernsey has been sentenced to 21 months in prison. He was also order to pay $141,206.39 in restitution.

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