Metzger gets 18 months

Published 3:00 pm Tuesday, August 7, 2007

A former bank manager convicted of stealing from customer accounts was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Thursday in Jacksonville.

Brian Metzger of Live Oak was indicted in January for stealing more than $100,000, court records show. He pleaded guilty in April to one count of bank fraud. Eleven other charges were dropped.

Judge Virginia M. Hernandez Covington said Metzger received 18 months in part because he had already begun to make restitution for his crimes. Metzger has repaid $20,000 of the $103,534.54 he was ordered to reimburse Mercantile Bank, his former employer. He could have received up to 30 years in prison.

Metzger’s attorney, Dale Carson of Jacksonville, said Monday that he would have preferred Metzger serve no prison time at all. “Brian recognized the error of his ways and tried to do something about it,” he said, referring to Metzger’s efforts at restitution. “I wanted him to be able to repay his debt to the bank.”

Carson said Metzger had been working as a building contractor since his indictment in an effort to repay the bank.

The indictment included allegations that Metzger changed addresses on some customers’ accounts to his home address.

Parole does not exist in the federal prison system. Prisoners can accumulate a maximum of 54 days’ “good time” per year, after the first 12 months, and must serve at least 85 percent of their sentences.

Metzger faces five years’ probation after his release. It is not known where he will be incarcerated.