YOUNGSTOWN - Federal authorities have charged a New York City couple with allegedly scheming to cheat Cortland Bank out of a quarter of a million dollars.

A U.S. District Court Judge in Youngstown has unsealed an indictment charging 43-year-old Frank Duhart and 35-year-old Jennifer Page Porter with bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

Authorities say Porter used false information in January 2021 to open a Cortland Bank Account to deposit two stolen checks totaling $268,475.

The checks were written out to a New York law firm. However, the FBI says Porter created a phony Columbus, Ohio-based home healthcare business using the same name as the law firm to deposit the stolen checks.

Duhart is accused of also using false information to open accounts at Cortland Bank branches in Niles and Hubbard so he allegedly could collect the money.

The FBI affidavit states that Duhart claimed to own a business in Boardman that helped illegal immigrants obtain green cards.  The address that Duhart gave for the business comes back to an apartment complex on Market Street.

The FBI investigator notes in the affidavit that Porter’s paperwork submitted to the bank included a New York state nursing aide certificate issued in 2000.  Since Porter was born in 1987, the agent notes that she would have received the certificate when she was 12 years old.

Although the indictment was handed up in July, it remained sealed until this week when Duhart was arrested in New York.