Springfield man gets 55 months for bank fraud, counterfeiting

A Springfield man was sentenced Tuesday in federal court after pleading guilty earlier this year to participating in a bank fraud conspiracy.

Max E. Snodgrass received four years and seven months in federal prison and must pay more than $91,000 in restitution, after stealing checking account and personal identity information from multiple victims. He then used the information to produce counterfeit identification and checks, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri.

Snodgrass and co-conspirators used the fraudulent checks and IDs to obtain or try to obtain more than $108,000 between April and November 2008, the release said. Co-defendants John Dennis Sedersten, Karen Ann Harris and Bryan Thomas Ray, all of Springfield, also pleaded guilty to their roles in the bank fraud conspiracy.

Snodgrass also admitted, in a separate scheme, to helping others file false tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service, using his computer to create false W-2 forms for a sham business, claiming withholdings and earnings for employees who never worked for the business.

That scheme, according to the release, resulted in actual and attempted losses of more than $15,000.