North Carolina agents arrested a Raleigh man on November 9 on a Florida warrant accusing him of taking about $230,000 from a Tallahassee lender for a boat investigators say did not exist.
It is the second Florida loan-fraud case tied to 46-year-old Keith Sanders this year, and the paperwork described in both looks much the same. WWAY reported the newer arrest from the State Bureau of Investigation.
A Loan for a Boat on Paper
A Tallahassee financial institution alleged that Sanders defrauded it of approximately $230,000 through a fraudulent loan. WWAY reported that he received the money in May 2024 for a nonexistent boat.
Investigators said he applied for the loan to buy a boat in North Carolina. They said he falsely stated that he lived in Panama City and worked in Tallahassee, and that he handed over a false title for a boat that was not there.
In that case he faces one count of first-degree grand theft and one count of second-degree providing false information to a financial institution. The charges are allegations.
Booked in Wake County
SBI agents arrested Sanders on the Florida Department of Law Enforcement warrant and took him to the Wake County Jail, WWAY reported. He is identified as a Raleigh resident.
The report said the investigation remains ongoing. No plea, hearing date or case outcome was included in the account of the arrest.
An Earlier Case in Perry
The Tallahassee allegations are separate from a Perry, Florida, prosecution that began earlier in 2026. WCTV reported that Perry Police notified FDLE about an allegedly falsified loan application for more than $198,000, and that Sanders later defaulted on that loan.
Investigators in the Perry case said he falsely claimed to live in Panama City and work in Tallahassee, and that he provided a title for a boat that did not exist. The two matters name the same cities and the same kind of collateral. They remain distinct cases, with different lenders and different charge sets.
WRAL reported that FDLE obtained an arrest warrant in the Perry case and that Sanders surrendered at the Taylor County Jail on February 23. He was charged there with one count of grand theft and one count of scheme to defraud a financial institution.
About eight months and 17 days later, the November arrest put him in a North Carolina jail on the Tallahassee warrant, while investigators say that inquiry is still open.
