Warrant issued for ex-councilman

WEST CHESTER >> An arrest warrant was issued Monday for a former Parkesburg Borough Council member who failed to appear for a scheduled trial on accusations that he engineered “an elaborate scheme,” to steal over $100,000 from customers at the Chester County bank where he worked as a branch manager.

Defendant Anthony Rife was supposed to appear before Common Pleas President Judge Jacqueline Carroll Cody on charges of forgery and theft, presumably for either a trial or guilty plea, but reportedly called his attorney early Monday and said that he had been in a one car accident on his way to the courthouse and would not be able to attend his hearing.

Defense attorney Michael Skinner of West Chester, who has represented Rife since his arrests last June, told Cody that he had no more information about Rife’s condition or whereabouts. Skinner did not object when Assistant District Attorney Ryan Borchik, who is prosecuting the case, asked Cody to issue a bench warrant for Rife’s arrest.

Cody agreed to issue the warrant, noting that Rife had previously said he intended to enter a guilty plea to the charges against him in May, but did not appear on the scheduled date. Any officer who now comes in contact with Rife can hold him in custody until he is brought before Cody. She said she would halt the warrant if Skinner is able to provide any further information, such as whether Rife is being treated at a local hospital for any injuries suffered in the alleged accident.

The primary victim in Rife’s initial case includes a special needs individual, but other targets of the scheme included a dead man whose account was dormant. In all, eight accounts were illegally accessed, according to a criminal complaint.

Rife, 39, of Parkesburg who was elected to the borough council in

2017 but resigned his post in January, had worked as a manager for the Downingtown National Bank at locations in West Whiteland and Ludwig’s Corner before his arrest. He was charged with counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, access device fraud, computer trespassing, and dealing in proceeds of illegal activities.

According to a criminal complaint filed earlier this month by Chester County detective Keith Cowdright, an investigator trained in financial fraud cases, between October 2015 and August 2017, Rife drained thousands of dollars from an account he had set up for the guardians of a special needs person without their permission. He would replenish the account over roughly that same period of time by transferring funds from other DNB customers’ accounts without their knowledge, sometimes signing their name on withdrawal slips.

The scheme was discovered by bank officials after the account holder for the special needs person — identified only as Victim No. 1 — called the Ludwig’s Corner branch to make a withdrawal from the account while Rife, who the person normally dealt with, was out of the office.

The person with whom Victim No. 1 spoke said that the account did not have sufficient funds to cover the requested withdrawal. Victim No. 1 stated that the account should have had in excess of $20,000. When bank personnel began looking into the account, they found a number of withdrawals from it authorized by Rife, as well as a number of deposits into the account from the accounts of other customers, including the dead man.

A detailed forensic review of Rife’s activities revealed how he had been stealing money from eight different victims. He used the account of Victim No. 1 as the primary vehicle for his thefts, accessing the accounts of the other victims and transferred money from those accounts to Victim No. 1’s trust account to conceal the money he had previously taken out of it. According t the complaint, Rife created a complex web of transactions both to access money and cover up his activities. The defendant even activated the dormant account of Richard Baker, a dead man, as part of his scheme.

In total, the defendant stole $118,771.18 from the eight victims, authorities said. DNB terminated his employment after learning of the scheme last year.