Man Jailed For Attempting To Cash his Check At His Own Bank

Ikenna Njoku, a 28 year old man who had recently bought his first house, was charged with attempting to cash a fraudulent check for over 8,000 dollars.

The problem? The check was actually real and was issued by JP Morgan Chase!

That’s right, instead of actually looking into the check, the bank, apparently assuming the check was suspicious and that Njoku was unable to afford a new house, actually set the man up to be arrested for fraud!

The next day the bank realized their mistake and instead of calling the jail that Njoku was being illegally held in, they called the detective who handled the case who just so happened to have the day off.

Njoku then spent the entire weekend in jail due to bank and police errors. He lost his job and had his car towed.

theintelhub.com...

Man i hope he sues the "bleep" out of JP Morgan Chase for lose of his job, car, and emotional damages! I would be so P.Oed if i was this guy. Another part of this story that this article failed to report is the man is an African American. did race have a part in this too? The Banks and cops go way to far and we need to rise up!





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That's a shame...it really is.

I don't think it speaks so much about the "big banks" or the country or anything else. My opinion is that the banker who didn't check into this was an idiot and needs to spend some time in jail themselves.

How hard is it to verify a check?

reply to post by camaro68ss


It is simple racism no more no less.

reply to post by camaro68ss


..and his car was towed from the bank lot and auctioned off! all he needs is a legal beagle looking to make a name for themself and this fellow is going to be well compensated. i hope he raises holy hell and makes a major issue of this shoddy treatment.

if this rolls into his losing his house due to no car / no work the pay-off should be even larger. customer service isn't priority one at that bank eh?

reply to post by camaro68ss


Seems to me they owe him a house, I mean they messed up his lively hood.


What is the punishment for that?

My heart stopped for a second. Are you telling me they potentially ruined this guys life because of prejudice?

He better be fully compensated and more, reinstated at his job or better yet, take the job from the guy who caused this.

I'm not saying this justifies anything, but I think there is more to this story than the article includes. Why? The man can't afford the towing and impound fees, yet is a buying a new house with an $8000 check.

I find it hard to believe he would be approved for a mortgage but doesn't have around $200-300 in the bank????

Something is off with this story. Further, as a former bank employee, you can't just call the cops and say it's fake. More often than not, they merely hold the check until they verify authenticity and then confiscate it and prosecute if fraudulent.

Originally posted by lpowell0627
I'm not saying this justifies anything, but I think there is more to this story than the article includes. Why? The man can't afford the towing and impound fees, yet is a buying a new house with an $8000 check.

I find it hard to believe he would be approved for a mortgage but doesn't have around $200-300 in the bank????

Something is off with this story. Further, as a former bank employee, you can't just call the cops and say it's fake. More often than not, they merely hold the check until they verify authenticity and then confiscate it and prosecute if fraudulent.

edit on 7-7-2011 by lpowell0627 because: (no reason given)

when i bought my house I did not have the money in my account to cover the down payment. Luckily i had $150 in my wallet from my birthday and i deposited that and was bearly enough to cover the down on my house. I had nothing! i eat off the credit card for a month.

Its possible

reply to post by lpowell0627

The next day the bank realized their mistake and instead of calling the jail that Njoku was being illegally held in, they called the detective who handled the case who just so happened to have the day off.

You make a good point about "possibly" being something more to the story. But directly above, is a quote from the OP linked article. I think that clearly explains that there was nothing more to this other than a screw up on the bank's behalf. They even admitted to their mistake and had to let the authorities know they messed up. I hope this guy is able to get a good lawyer, because JP M have tons of lawyers. I also hope that he succeeds in suing their pants off.

ETA: I would say that the KING 5 link within the OP source adds validity to the claim. I am sure he will end up settling with a fair amount due to the national coverage of this.

Originally posted by lpowell0627
I'm not saying this justifies anything, but I think there is more to this story than the article includes. Why? The man can't afford the towing and impound fees, yet is a buying a new house with an $8000 check.

I find it hard to believe he would be approved for a mortgage but doesn't have around $200-300 in the bank????

Something is off with this story. Further, as a former bank employee, you can't just call the cops and say it's fake. More often than not, they merely hold the check until they verify authenticity and then confiscate it and prosecute if fraudulent.

edit on 7-7-2011 by lpowell0627 because: (no reason given)

Are you serious? Did you READ the article? The man was in JAIL!! He didn't know his car was being towed much less had the opportunity to do anything about it.

The man was trying to cash a check for $8,000 AFTER he bought a house. How many people do you know who can buy a house and still have $8,000 to spend? He sounds like he was doing all right to me (until he got locked up FALSELY).

Originally posted by lpowell0627
I'm not saying this justifies anything, but I think there is more to this story than the article includes. Why? The man can't afford the towing and impound fees, yet is a buying a new house with an $8000 check.

I find it hard to believe he would be approved for a mortgage but doesn't have around $200-300 in the bank????

Something is off with this story. Further, as a former bank employee, you can't just call the cops and say it's fake. More often than not, they merely hold the check until they verify authenticity and then confiscate it and prosecute if fraudulent.

edit on 7-7-2011 by lpowell0627 because: (no reason given)

Why the HELL should he pay the towing and impound fees??

Originally posted by HomerinNC

Originally posted by lpowell0627
I'm not saying this justifies anything, but I think there is more to this story than the article includes. Why? The man can't afford the towing and impound fees, yet is a buying a new house with an $8000 check.

I find it hard to believe he would be approved for a mortgage but doesn't have around $200-300 in the bank????

Something is off with this story. Further, as a former bank employee, you can't just call the cops and say it's fake. More often than not, they merely hold the check until they verify authenticity and then confiscate it and prosecute if fraudulent.

edit on 7-7-2011 by lpowell0627 because: (no reason given)

Why the HELL should he pay the towing and impound fees??

he shouldent, he got ripped off my the bank and cops!

Originally posted by nyk537
That's a shame...it really is.

I don't think it speaks so much about the "big banks" or the country or anything else. My opinion is that the banker who didn't check into this was an idiot and needs to spend some time in jail themselves.

How hard is it to verify a check?

Not hard at all, speaking from experience, maybe a few minutes at best. Also, this is his own personal bank, so obviously he's cashed those checks there before.

I don't think there is anything more sinister to this story lpowell0627, not a very good statement. He probably couldn't pay the towing fees and such because he couldn't get his check cashed. He probably also had to pay the bail money, not including the morgage payments.

I dont know about you guys but when i got my house i was wiped out. I had a negitive balance in my account. Yeah he is not going to have money!

Originally posted by camaro68ss

when i bought my house I did not have the money in my account to cover the down payment. Luckily i had $150 in my wallet from my birthday and i deposited that and was bearly enough to cover the down on my house. I had nothing! i eat off the credit card for a month.

Its possible

edit on 7-7-2011 by camaro68ss because: (no reason given)

edit on 7-7-2011 by camaro68ss because: (no reason given)

edit on 7-7-2011 by camaro68ss because: (no reason given)

No offense, but I thought that was how we got into this mess in the first place and that new regulations prevented approving mortgages with questionable finances.

Anybody that is buying a house but has to use a credit card to eat for a month should not be buying a house IMO. Again, no offense to you personally.

I still hold true to my opinion this is not the whole story. As a former teller supervisor and operations manager for a big bank, it just doesn't work this way. At least not in the eight years I worked there. And we had plenty of fake checks.

reply to post by HomerinNC


There is a major difference between should and could.

Originally posted by lpowell0627

Originally posted by camaro68ss

when i bought my house I did not have the money in my account to cover the down payment. Luckily i had $150 in my wallet from my birthday and i deposited that and was bearly enough to cover the down on my house. I had nothing! i eat off the credit card for a month.

Its possible

edit on 7-7-2011 by camaro68ss because: (no reason given)

edit on 7-7-2011 by camaro68ss because: (no reason given)

edit on 7-7-2011 by camaro68ss because: (no reason given)

No offense, but I thought that was how we got into this mess in the first place and that new regulations prevented approving mortgages with questionable finances.

Anybody that is buying a house but has to use a credit card to eat for a month should not be buying a house IMO. Again, no offense to you personally.

I still hold true to my opinion this is not the whole story. As a former teller supervisor and operations manager for a big bank, it just doesn't work this way. At least not in the eight years I worked there. And we had plenty of fake checks.

I put $40,000 down on the house and was short $130 bucks when wiring the money. I was not a zero down home owner. maybe i did not explain it well to you. and yes i had to pay for food on the credit card until my next pay check.

Thank god I dont have a bank account

Sounds fishy... Mortgage loan underwriters require proof of available funds that are seasoned and sourced before they'll even begin on the paper work. (Homeland Security Regs) There's more to this story than is being reported.

Please read: this story is already changing and falling apart.

policestaterising.wordpress.com...

Now it's an IRS rebate, in an account that was already closed due to numerous bounced checks, and so on. I am telling you, this is not the whole story.

Also, since when do they auction cars within three days??? If he could have gotten his car back, meaning he was innocent, he would have also had the $8000 check.