MADISON COUNTY, Ga. -- A Georgia teen who spent the better part of $30,000, which was mistakenly put into his checking account by a bank teller, will serve the next 10 years on probation and has been ordered by a judge to pay the money back.
"The daddy apologized about a dozen times that he was sorry it happened and the boy said he was sorry. That's about all he said," said victim Steven Fields.
Both the victim and the man convicted have the same name and both live in Hull, a small town in Madison County. They never knew one another even though for a time they lived on the same street.
The 70-year-old deposited more than $30,000 in his checking account after he sold land.
The bank teller, who he has known for years, mistakenly deposited the money into the 18-year-old's account.
"That's the only thing that upset me was that my friend lost her job," said the elder Fields.
CBS46 talked to a woman who the teen refers to as his mother in March of last year.
"I told that woman up at the bank she should have looked over her mistake that she made if she knew there were three people up there with the same name," said Stacey Sorrow, a woman who raised the teen.
"He (teen) was excited. I would have been too," she adds, recalling the moment the teen discovered the funds in his account.
The teen spent most of the money on a BMW, among other items.
The elder Fields said he met the teen for the first time in court.
Reporter: "Do feel like he was sincere when he apologized?"
Fields: "I don't know if he was or not. It's like when people say, 'I'm sorry.' I feel like they're sorry they got caught," said the victim.
The teen has since been arrested for possessing illegal drugs.
"They (anyone with a pending sentence) can come back before the judge on that new charge and have a portion their sentence that they already have revoked, which means they would have to serve a portion of that sentence in jail," said Sam Small with the Madison County District Attorney's office.
