Death benefit check causes mixup

By ALLEN ESSEX/Valley Morning Star

HARLINGEN - A grieving Harlingen father trying to cash a $100,000 death benefit check so he could make funeral arrangements for his sailor son wound up in jail until Navy officials cleared up the misunderstanding.

Harlingen resident John Mayberry was detained for six hours on May 30 after Texas State Bank officials called police when they became suspicious of the check he attempted to cash, Harlingen Police Department spokesman Dave Osborne said.

The Navy issued the $100,000 death benefit check after Seaman Daniel Mayberry, 21, of the USS Carter Hall, based in Little Creek, Va., died May 27 as the result of a car accident in Virginia Beach, The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., reported.

On Thursday, Mayberry said the check, the proceeds of his son Daniel's G.I. life insurance policy, was handed to him by a Navy officer at the Naval Hospital in Little Creek, Va.

He and his family had traveled to Virginia to be with his son, who was hospitalized after the accident, Mayberry said.

Upon his return to Harlingen, he went to his bank and tried to cash the check there so he could pay for his son's funeral arrangements.

"We were longtime customers (of Texas State Bank)," Mayberry said. "We've had an account there for many years."

Mayberry said the Navy cleared up the matter and Harlingen police returned the check to him on June 2.

Mayberry said he has been reluctant to comment on the case because he and his family were trying to focus on his son's funeral and burial earlier this past week.

Daniel Mayberry was born in California while his father was stationed at Twentynine Palms with the Marine Corps.

"We brought him here when he was about 3," Mayberry said. "He graduated from Harlingen High School in 2005. This was his home. This was where he wanted to be."

Mayberry said the family did not want to dwell on his arrest or submit to extensive media interviews because they just wanted to focus on his son.

"We're just trying to clear this up the best we can," Mayberry said.

His son's girlfriend, his best friend and a couple of his shipmates traveled from Virginia to Harlingen for the funeral, Mayberry said.

"The ones who could come were here," he said. "They really come together," he said of the "Navy family."

"They were there for him 110 percent," he said. "The Navy really takes care of its own. It was a really nice funeral."

On Tuesday, Texas State Bank spokesman Cody Sparks outlined the usual procedures bank tellers follow if someone presents a large check that seems questionable.

"First we determine whether or not they are a customer (with an account at the bank)," he said. "Then we determine what funds they have in an account, and then take a look at the check," he said.

The normal procedure would be to accept the check on the basis that it has to be verified, Sparks said.

"If the check the customer wishes to cash or deposit is large and if there is anything suspicious, we'll put it on hold, so we can validate the check," Sparks said.

There are also laws that require the bank to notify federal authorities if large amounts of cash are deposited, Sparks said. Those laws pertain to anti-terrorism rules that were enacted after Sept. 11, 2001, he said.

"When Mr. Mayberry came in, we went to validate the check with a national 1-800 number," he said. "We went through the U.S. Treasury Department. They deemed the check to be non-valid.

"We contacted the (Harlingen) police and they made the determination to detain Mr. Mayberry."

"I'm glad that the Navy Department had cleared that up for Mr. Mayberry," Sparks said.

The rapid issuance of the check may have contributed to the confusion.

"The Navy has a policy of trying to pay at least some of the (G.I. insurance proceeds) within 24 hours so the family can make funeral arrangements," said Osborne, the police spokesman.

"The bank has security procedures and the check did not pass their inspection, so they called us," Osborne said.

"We spoke to the Treasury Department and placed Mr. Mayberry under arrest," Osborne said. "Then we got hold of the Navy Department, the Treasury Department and the Secret Service."

At first the account number on the check did not seem legitimate to the bank or to Treasury Department officials, Osborne said. But the matter has now been cleared up, he said.

"Navy Department senior officials verified the check as legitimate (on Monday)," Osborne said.

Secret Service spokesman Mark Lacey in McAllen said HPD asked for assistance to check the legitimacy of the check, but once that was done, that ended the agency's involvement, he said.

"We're always glad to help the Harlingen Police Department," he said.