Theft from jail account results in jail time

A former jail inmate who figured out how to clean out the bank account that held other inmates' money has pleaded guilty to charges related to the $120,000 scam.

Keith Edward Wright, 34, pleaded guilty Nov. 29 to felony larceny, obtaining property by false pretenses and other charges related to the jail scam and another scam against a restaurant. As part of a plea bargain, Superior Court Judge Kenneth Titus sentenced him to at least five years, 10 months in prison.

Had he been convicted of all the charges against him, Wright could have been sentenced to more than 68 years, according to court records.

The Durham County jail maintains a bank account used for inmates' money while they are in jail. Inmates can use the money to buy items at the jail's canteen. Wright was in the jail earlier this year, and when he was released, authorities wrote him a check from the account. There was enough information on that check, investigators said, for him to figure out how to withdraw money from the account.

He started telling people he could help consolidate their debts and then used the account to pay their bills. An investigator said earlier this year that Wright announced at a cookout that he could pay bills.

Wright's attorney, Dan Read of Durham, said that if his client had testified at trial, he likely would have said that he was among a number of people who had participated in the scam.

"He had information that he was careless in spreading around," Read said.

No one spotted the scam until the bank, SunTrust, told the Sheriff's Office that the account was overdrawn, Read said.