Pottstown bank worker charged with scamming elderly clients

A personal banking assistant at a Wells Fargo branch in Pottstown was arrested this week and accused of stealing more than $9,000 from elderly clients, Montgomery County prosecutors announced Friday.

Investigators allege Jon Dugan, 28, of Douglassville, withdrew thousands of dollars from the accounts of at least six elderly clients, who gave him access to the accounts.

When confronted with the alleged thefts, he denied he had stolen the money, then purportedly tried to return it to at least one customer, District Attorney Risa Vetri Ferman said.

"He purposefully targeted elderly victims in the hopes of deliberately deceiving [them] with unsolicited, confusing, persistent financial advice," she said.

The thefts came to light this summer after several customers at the branch noticed money missing from their accounts.

According to court filings, Dugan often urged customers to make transfers they did not want, consolidate accounts, or sign blank withdrawal slips. While many of his purported victims would later tell detectives they did not understand Dugan's financial advice, they agreed to go along with it because they trusted him.

In one case, Dugan purportedly convinced an 82-year-old customer who lost her checkbook that she should move money between her accounts to protect her cash. The woman agreed, but Dugan allegedly stole $230 of the $2,230 she authorized him to transfer.

Wells Fargo's corporate security confronted Dugan in August after an 87-year-old customer reported $1,100 missing. Within hours, Dugan was purportedly spotted making a deposit in that sum back into her account with a debit card he had drawn up in her name, according to the criminal complaint filed in his case.

Dugan was arraigned Friday morning on charges of theft, forgery, and fraud. He was released on a $25,000 bond.

It remained unclear whether he had retained an attorney.