San Diego : Escrow Firm Owner Enters Guilty Plea

A former San Diego escrow company owner has pleaded guilty to defrauding the Bank of Commerce of about $272,000, a federal prosecutor said.

Douglas Randolf Munson, 42, entered the plea to one count of bank fraud Monday before U.S. District Judge William Enright.

Munson owned Fairbanks Escrow, which received escrow funds from the Bank of Commerce to be disbursed to borrowers of construction loans, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter C. Lewis.

The government alleged that between March and May, 1991, Munson submitted several false requests, from the borrowers of the bank, then kept the money himself.

Munson faces up to 30 years in federal prison and a $1 million fine when sentenced on Sept. 21, Lewis said.

The conviction was the first obtained through the work of the month-old San Diego Bank Fraud Task Force, made up of Justice Department attorneys and agents of the FBI, Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service, Lewis said.