Admitted con man faces new fraud charges

The confessed conspirator in the 1990s Whitefish Mountain Bank fraud scheme in Whitefish is facing new federal charges of stealing $170,000 from his brother and sister.

The federal charge comes on top of state charges in Washington that John Petersen, 59, stole his 95-year-old aunt’s life savings.

Petersen was arrested in February 1998 in connection with the demise of Whitefish Mountain Bank. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy, money laundering and bank fraud after prosecutors charged him with cashing phony checks and bribing bank officials — netting him about $6.4 million from the bank.

The admitted con man was sentenced to 108 months in prison but served only five years because he provided evidence against his co-conspirators in Montana.

Kalispell attorney John Lence and Columbia Falls dentist Michael Allen also went to prison after they were convicted of fraud and conspiracy for their role at Whitefish Mountain Bank. They claimed Petersen had deceived them.

Werner “Buster” Schreiber, the bank’s president and a former city councilor and community leader in Whitefish, was sentenced to six and a half years in prison for his role.

In the latest case, Petersen was arrested on a federal indictment on Dec. 8, 2010, as he was about to be released from the SeaTac federal prison, in Washington. He was charged with persuading siblings in Alaska and Alabama on 16 occasions into transferring money to his aunt’s credit union account after telling them they would earn millions in exchange.

Petersen also faces nine counts of felony theft in Spokane County Superior Court. Petersen had allegedly gained power-of-attorney over his aunt, put her in a nursing home, moved into her Spokane house, diverted $627,000 from her stock and bank accounts, spent $400,000 on himself and never paid the nursing home bills.

On Dec. 11, 2007, while in federal court on probation violation charges related to his aunt’s money, Petersen reportedly read documents on the prosecutor’s table indicating he would be arrested. He exited the court room before his case was called by the magistrate and went on the lam.

Law enforcement officials tracked Petersen down in Boulder, Colo., and arrested him in a hotel there on April 13. He was found with a blond wig, books on changing identity and a 2008 Cadillac DTS. The vehicle had been reported stolen due to missed payments and was impounded.