MASON CITY – A Northern Iowa man who committed fraud at a Mason City bank has been sent to prison after years of crimes committed here and elsewhere.
Matthew Scott Merrick, age 29 of Clarksville, Iowa, is on his way to a state prison at this time. He had been accused of two counts of felony forgery (fraud) as well as aggravated misdemeanor forgery, identity theft and third-degree theft. Merrick pleaded guilty to one count of felony forgery and one count of aggravated misdemeanor forgery. He allegedly opened a checking account and a cell phone account in someone else’s name in October of 2015.
Merrick will serve a concurrent 5-year and 2-year prison term for these crimes.
Also at this time, he is facing multiple charges in other counties (Capello, Floyd, and others) for crimes he allegedly committed, including forgery, ongoing criminal conduct, felony first-degree theft, unauthorized use of a credit card, identity theft, third-degree theft. He has court dates approaching.
Merrick is a convicted felon on a second-degree theft charges brought by Mason City police back in 2012, 2011, 2007 and 2006 (theft by check). Also on his resume is arson back in 2007, a charge brought by Mason City police. He started out with a felony forgery charge and unauthorized use of a credit card back in 2006 and was given deferred judgements with probation.
