Defendant Found Not Competent For Md. Bank Fraud Trial
BALTIMORE (AP) -- A federal judge says a Garrett County developer is not competent to stand trial on charges he bilked banks out of $3.7 million in fraudulent real-estate schemes.
The order pertaining to Samuel VanSickle was unsealed this week in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. His trial was to have begun Monday.
VanSickle will be evaluated at a Bureau of Prisons medical facility for up to four months to determine if he is likely to become fit for trial.
Court documents don't' disclose the nature of his illness. He underwent a mental examination and brain scan last year.
VanSickle was 49 when he and Lewis Strosnider were indicted in February 2014 on federal bank fraud and conspiracy charges. Strosnider pleaded guilty to conspiracy in August and will be sentenced next month.
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