Former West Shore bank manager gets one year in federal prison for loan scam

The former manager of a West Shore bank branch was sentenced to 1 year plus a day in federal prison for committing a loan scam of $ 379,000.

U.S. Intermediate District Chief Justice John E. Jones sentenced Karen Ramm, 53, of Camp Hill, a year after she pleaded guilty to bank fraud while ‘she worked as a branch manager and loan officer for Commerce Bank.

Investigators said Ramm committed the scam between 2001 and 2007. They said she wrote and approved seven bogus loans on behalf of her former domestic partner using false information and forged signatures. She was arrested after an investigation by the FBI and bank officials.

Last month, Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Clancy filed a memorandum urging Jones to severely punish Ramm for abusing his position of trust.

In addition to the jail term, Jones ordered Ramm to spend 2 years on probation after his release and pay $ 102,500 in restitution.

The federal government indicted Ramm in 2017, two years after an attempt to prosecute her in Cumberland County Court derailed. A county judge and the state Superior Court overturned the case after finding that county detectives had missed the statute of limitations for Ramm’s arrest.

Investigators said Ramm was suspected in June 2010 when her ex-partner accused Ramm of forging her name on loan documents. Ramm resigned from the bank the same year.