Penn Yan Man Indicted for Conspiring and Attempting to Obtain Money from Bank by Extortion and Lying to the FBI

    ROCHESTER, N.Y.--U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul, Jr. announced today that a federal grand jury has returned a four-count indictment charging Jonathan A. Karcher, 21, of Penn Yan, N.Y., with conspiring and attempting to extort money from the Lyons National Bank in Penn Yan on June 5, 2013 and later lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation during the investigation into the incident. The charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Everardo A. Rodriguez, who is handling the case, stated that according to the indictment, on June 5, 2013, a member of the conspiracy called the manager of Lyons National Bank and demanded that the manager take $15,000 in cash and leave it by a dumpster behind the Rite Aid store across the street from the bank. During that conversation, the caller threatened the bank manager by informing her that the caller knew where the manager lived, how many children the manager had and that the car of one of the children was at the house that day. The indictment also alleges that Karcher drove to the area of the Lyons National Bank that day, parked in the Rite Aid parking lot and later walked by the dumpster where the manager had been directed to leave the $15,000.

The indictment further alleges that during a subsequent interview during the investigation, the defendant provided materially false statements to the FBI.

The indictment is the culmination of a joint investigation on the part of the Penn Yan Police Department, under the direction of Chief Mark Hulse, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The fact that a defendant has been charged with a crime is merely an accusation and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.