Local

Social media helps Ormond Beach police catch bank fraud suspect

ORMOND BEACH, Fla. — A Volusia County bank employee accused of recruiting people on the outside to help him rip off his own customers is now in jail.

Investigators said they caught a man withdrawing money from other people’s accounts at a Wells Fargo bank in Ormond Beach and they said Facebook helped track him down.

They agreed not to press charges against him if he ratted out the banker who was allegedly helping the man withdraw the money.

Investigators said several customers had thousands of dollars swiped from their Wells Fargo accounts from inside the bank.

One of the victims, John Upchurch, said he noticed strange activity on his account back in November.

“I was looking at my account online and realized there was an $8,000 withdraw I had not made,” Uprich said.

According to police reports, the person who stole money from the victim's account had the necessary account information to make the withdrawal.

Police said that happened because employee Jomar Lizardo recruited others on the outside to make fraudulent withdrawls using fake IDs.

Investigators said a bank surveillance camera captured one of the so-called recruits making the fraudulent withdraws.

They said the image was posted on Facebook and the suspect was identified as Joe Hopkins, who they said was eager to talk once he was in jail on unrelated charges.

“He cooperated and was able to [help us] get one of the bank employees that was helping facilitate the frauds that occurred,” Lt. Jesse Godfrey, with the Ormond Beach Police Department.

A spokesperson told WFTV that the banker is no longer employed there and all customers impacted by the fraud have been fully reimbursed.

Lizardo is being held in jail on a $100,000 bond.