Ashland bank owner pleads guilty to misusing bailout money

A Columbia man who once headed Ashland's Mainstreet Bank pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to misleading federal investigators about his misuse of federal bank bailout funds.

A news release from U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson said Darryl Layne Woods, 48, Columbia, waived his right to a grand jury and entered the guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matt J. Whitworth.

The federal information charged him with making a false writing.

Prosecutors accused Lane of using $381,000 in TARP funds to purchase a luxury condominium in Fort Myers, Fla.

TARP was the 2008 federal Troubled Assets Relief Program.

"At a time when many other Americans were losing their homes, he was siphoning off public funds to buy a luxury vacation condo in Florida," Dickinson said in a news release.

"These federal funds were intended to help stabilize the economy during a fiscal crisis. Instead, this disgraced business leader took advantage of the situation to benefit himself and other bank executives, then lied to federal investigators in an attempt to hide his scheme."

Woods was the chairman and chief financial officer of Mainstreet Bank, and also was the chairman, president and majority shareholder of Calvert Financial Corporation, Mainstreet Bank's holding company.

"When SIGTARP required Mainstreet Bank to disclose how it spent TARP funds, bank Chairman and CFO Woods failed to tell the truth that within days of receiving the TARP funds, the bank spent more than a third of the funds (to buy) a waterfront condo in Florida for his and other executives' use," the release said.

Woods admitted in court Monday that he used $381,487 of the TARP funds to purchase the luxury condominium on Feb. 2, 2009.

Under the terms of a plea agreement, the federal government will not bring any charges against Woods' wife, Jackie.

By pleading guilty, Woods is subject to a sentence of up to one year in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $100,000 and an order of restitution.

The U.S. Probation Office must complete a presentence investigation before Woods' sentencing hearing will be scheduled.