Bensalem's bank-error bandit will apply for first-time offenders program

Posted: July 27, 2012

Joseph Bucci

For a few weeks earlier this year, Joseph Bucci lived the very good life. Now he’s paying for it.

Literally, his attorney said Thursday.

The 22-year-old Bensalem man, who gained notoriety as the bank-error bandit after police say he withdrew nearly $70,000 mistakenly deposited into his account, has sold many of the items he bought using the money including a car, attorney Michael Parlow said.

He is also working and plans to repay the $67,300 he spent, Parlow said.

Bucci was prepared to make a lump sum repayment for more than $10,000 to Wells Fargo on Thursday, Parlow said, following a preliminary hearing before Bensalem District Judge Joseph Falcone where Bucci waived charges of receiving stolen property and theft of property lost by mistake to Bucks County Court.

The offenses are third-degree felonies that carry a maximum seven-year jail sentence, if convicted. But Parlow says his client will apply for a special first-time offender program. If he stays out of trouble, the charges against him will be expunged.

Bensalem police contend that Bucci knew the money that appeared in his Wells Fargo bank account in March was not his. At the time, his account balance was $35.46, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.

But rather than return the money, he allegedly went on a month-long spending spree that ended with him being arrested and charged with two felonies in May. Among the items police say Bucci bought are airline tickets, a used car, clothing, food, gas, furniture, and a dog, according to the affidavit.

In mid-April, an internal investigation by Wells Fargo found that a teller at the bank’s Hellertown branch typed in the wrong account number and deposited $69,300 worth of checks from a lawyer’s office into Bucci’s account instead of his client’s account.

By that time though, police say, Bucci had withdrawn all but $2,000 of the amount accidentally transferred into his account.

Parlow says that his client didn’t just use the money for himself; he helped family and friends, so in his mind it didn’t seem like stealing.

“He’s a young kid that did a childish thing, but he recognized that he was wrong,” he added.