New Britain Township Police. Photo by James Short.
Credit union staff alerted police to the fraud as it was occurring, according to reports
One man was reported by a Chalfont credit union staff member to local police, attempting to withdraw funds from a home equity line of credit via fraud, police said.
On Aug. 20, an employee of Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union (MSDFCU), located at 335 W. Butler Ave. in Chalfont, called the New Britain Township Police to report a forgery in progress, reports said. The accused, Yi Sun, 62, of the 13,300 block of 41st Road in Flushing, New York, was still in the credit union when police arrived, according to police, and was pointed out by the location’s staff.
Police said that, when they spoke to Sun, he said he did not speak English. Reports said that Sun tried to use his iPhone’s translator to speak with police. Credit union staff said that Sun had been speaking English somewhat prior to police arrival, said reports.
Credit union staff told police that Sun had presented them with a fake Pennsylvania driver’s license with a name of “Chao Li” and attempted to withdraw $58,000 from a preexisting Home Equity Line of Credit. Staff had reached out, according to reports, to the account holder to ask if anyone was authorized to take money out of the account, and the owner said that no, no one was authorized and to call police, which staffing then did.
Staff at the credit union discovered that a secondary account holder, listed as Chao Li, was on the account, and that Sun was attempting, per police reports, to impersonate that individual. The account’s owner aided police, they said, to learn Sun’s real identity, finding he was not Li but Sun.
Sun admitted he “was going to get $1,000 to withdraw the $58,000,” police said. Sun is charged with four felonies, including counts of Forgery, unauthorized act in writing, Identity Theft, Theft by Deception, with false impersonation, and Receiving Stolen Property.
Sun is scheduled for a preliminary hearing before Magisterial District Judge Regina Armitage on Oct. 1 at 1 p.m. He was held in county jail prior to being released by court order, posting a non-monetary bail.
All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using public court records.
