Island County Prosecutor Greg Banks claims he did not steal money from a dead woman’s purse, contrary to what a regional TV news station reported.

“I categorically deny it,” he said.

Colleagues in Banks’ office have been ribbing him since a story on the KIRO website inadvertently mixed up the prosecutor and the defendant in a story about Doug Saar, a former Oak Harbor attorney who was sentenced to prison earlier this month for stealing from clients.

During the hearing, Banks said that Saar stole from a dead woman’s purse.

KIRO, however, reported that, “Banks even stole money from a dead client’s purse.”

The KIRO story also said that Banks stole from a family’s trust after the father died; Saar was actually convicted of that crime.

Banks said he asked KIRO to correct the story.

“Someday I’ll try to get another job and they’ll do a Google search and find this,” he said jokingly.

The KIRO story now has an editor’s note stating that “Greg Banks is the prosecutor and Doug Saar is the defendant.”