Surplus Snatcher Gets Four Years For Embezzling Ex-Homeowners' Unclaimed Funds Generated From F'closure Sales; County, Insurer Left Holding $1.2M+ Bag

In Memphis, Tennessee, The Commercial Appeal reports:

• Former Chancery Court bookkeeper Brandon Gunn was sentenced Friday to four years in federal prison and ordered to repay more than $1 million in surplus tax foreclosure funds he embezzled from the office between 2008 and 2011. [...] The 47-year-old Gunn pleaded guilty in October to embezzlement, conspiracy and money laundering.



• U.S. Dist. Court Judge Samuel Mays Jr. told him he had stolen from taxpayers who were in a most vulnerable time of their lives. "The basis for this crime was sheer greed," Mays said, noting the theft was in seven figures. "That's an astonishing amount of money to steal from the public. The theft has caused people to lose faith with the government and the courts." U.S. Atty. Ed Stanton called Gunn's actions "a flagrant abuse of the public's trust."



• Gunn was involved in an office function in which delinquent property taxes are paid by selling a homeowner's property, with the remainder or surplus to be placed in an escrow account the homeowner can claim.



• The embezzlement scheme came to light when one homeowner seeking to claim a surplus discovered that it had been paid to a company set up by Gunn. Gunn admitted to writing 38 checks ranging in amounts from $5,761 to $72,241 and sending them to his company or to other entities linked to him between May 2008 and March 2011.



• He told the court earlier that he targeted old tax accounts, including some that had gone unclaimed for as many as 17 years. When he was first caught, he tried to pay back money by stealing even more money.



• On Friday, Gunn was ordered to make restitution of $1,063,903, most of which will go to the county's former insurance carrier. The county's loss not covered by insurance was placed at $179,596.

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• A second man, Correy Isom, 35, a restaurant employee who allegedly conspired with Gunn, faces three felony counts and has pleaded not guilty.

For the story, see Chancery Court embezzler Brandon Gunn gets 4 years in prison (Ordered to repay more than $1 million purloined).