US couple leg it with 'gift from God' bank error

Take the divine $175k and run

By Lester Haines • Get more from this author

Posted in Bootnotes, 23rd January 2009 12:25 GMT

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A Pennsylvania man is languishing in county jail after he and his wife withdrew more than $175,000 erroneously credited to their bank account and legged it to Florida, AP reports.

Randy Pratt, 50, and missus Melissa, 36, of Bloomsburg, received the unexpected windfall when a $1,772.50 deposit into their FNB Bank account magically appeared as $177,250. Police said that instead of alerting the bank, they "withdrew the money, quit their jobs" and did a disappearing act.

Mr Pratt told the Bloomsburg Press Enterprise he "did attempt to ask the bank what happened, but was ignored". He described the money as "a gift from God", and insisted they'd given thousands of bucks away, including $25k to "a Florida church shelter for the homeless".

The couple now face trial in Columbia County Court on felony theft and conspiracy charges. A judge was less than impressed with the divine intervention defence, and refused to demonstrate Christian charity by lowering Randy Pratt's $100,000 bail.

His wife, though, is out on unsecured bail, having told the court she's "estranged from her husband". ®

Bootnote

Yeah, we know what you're thinking - only a couple of complete Pratts would run off with just $177k. Personally, I'm thinking that an error of $500k+ would see me straight on a plane to Rio de Janeiro.

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