Thread: Immigrant confirms his role in bank scam

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/57886

Thursday, March 23, 2006
Immigrant confirms his role in bank scam
Authorities say the nationwide check fraud scheme targeted local banks and companies.
By Lindsey Nair
981-3343

Hector Cruz-Hernandez stood before a federal judge Wednesday, faced with explaining his role in a check fraud scheme.

"I have needs," he said through a translator. "I have children."

Cruz-Hernandez is one of 11 Mexican nationals who have pleaded guilty in Roanoke for their roles in a national crime cell that struck Cloverdale, Harrisonburg, Danville and Staunton in 2004 and 2005.

Prosecutors say banks in those areas lost tens of thousands of dollars to the group, which U.S. Attorney John Brownlee has called "one cell of a major Mexican organization" that is believed to have bilked U.S. banks out of $50 million over several years.

Brownlee's spokeswoman, Heidi Coy, said similar arrests have been made in Kentucky, Nevada, North Dakota and California.

The defendants, who are almost all illegal immigrants, were recruited in their home city of San Vicente, Mexico, and promised a cut of the proceeds for their families, court documents show. They were then smuggled across the border to commit the crimes in the United States.

According to court documents, the defendants posed as job applicants at construction companies during the day, then returned after dark to break in and steal blank payroll checks from the bottom of the stack. Officials say the cell likely chose construction companies because that industry has more Hispanic employees, making the scheme more believable.

After that, the suspects went to a safe house in Nashville, Tenn., where they used a typewriter to make out the checks to aliases that matched fake identification they had obtained.

The defendants had false employment authorization cards from the U.S. Department of Justice and false drivers licenses from Tennessee and Nevada, an indictment states.

Once the checks were ready, they drove back to Virginia and cashed them at various banks, the indictment shows. The checks were made out for $900 to $1,000 each.

Four construction companies were victimized by the cell, according to court records: Scott-Gallaher Inc. of Botetourt County; Sellers Brothers of Danville; J&J Limited of Staunton; and Shields Construction of Harrisonburg.

Investigators say the cell members hit J&J Limited and Shields Construction in late summer 2004 and Seller Brothers in fall 2004, cashing the checks at First Bank and Trust in Staunton, Rockingham Heritage Bank in Harrisonburg and Virginia Bank and Trust in Danville.

On March 4, 2005, a group cashed forged checks stolen from Scott-Gallaher at the Bank of Botetourt branches in the Bonsack and Peters Creek Road areas of Roanoke County and in Troutville and Daleville, an indictment says.

After they left, a teller at one bank became suspicious and called Scott-Gallaher. She learned that the check cashing might be a scheme, so when the defendants returned March 7 to cash more checks, she called police.

All but one of the defendants were arrested by Botetourt County sheriff's deputies that day; the last was apprehended later in Pennsylvania. Court documents show that while the defendants were being held in the Botetourt County Jail, they were sent money orders from Nashville and Los Angeles as a bribe to keep them from cooperating with authorities.

Most of the defendants have more than one alias, and Antonio Tovar-Pena, whom authorities have said is a ring leader, has at least 24. Jose Tovar-Pena, his brother, also pleaded guilty.

This month, a criminal complaint and arrest warrant was filed in federal court for a third Tovar-Pena brother, Arturo, who has 25 aliases.

The warrant is only for illegal re-entry into the United States by a convicted felon, but the complaint states that Arturo Tovar-Pena has been identified as a participant in the Botetourt County scheme.

According to the complaint, fingerprint impressions found on some of the checks were matched with fingerprints for Arturo Tovar-Pena that are on file with the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Court testimony indicates that the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement also used fingerprint analysis to tie other defendants to the crime.

The 11 defendants are scheduled to be sentenced this summer. After they have served their time, all but two will be deported. Arnoldo Munguia-Verdusco and Ivan Paul Sanchez, both resident aliens who were in the country legally at the time of the crimes, will be entitled to an immigration hearing and may or may not be deported, officials said.

"I have needs," he said through a translator. "I have children."

I like that, "I have needs", can I use that defense some time. I don't have children, but I do have a habit for eating and having a roof over my head, maybe I can commit fraud or some other no doubt victimless crime and have some lawyer, through a translator of course, defend my right to a better life through larceny and fraud.

The defendants, who are almost all illegal immigrants, were recruited in their home city of San Vicente, Mexico, and promised a cut of the proceeds for their families, court documents show. They were then smuggled across the border to commit the crimes in the United States.

This can't possibly be. Our own president, Jorge Booch tells us that these illegals..err excuse me, "undocumented defrauders" are all law abiding, 'good hearted folk', 'salt of the earth heroes' are just here to 'try to put food on their families'.

Most of the defendants have more than one alias, and Antonio Tovar-Pena, whom authorities have said is a ring leader, has at least 24. Jose Tovar-Pena, his brother, also pleaded guilty.

The family that steals together stays together. Is that what Jorge means when he says 'family values don't stop at the Rio Grande'? Boy, and just think, Jorge and the wise men in the Senate want to give amnesty to these wonderful people, and to invite tens of millions more to join them. I can hardly wait.

http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/71456

Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Last of Mexican nationals sentenced

The four were among a group of 11 convicted in a Botetourt County bank scam.
By Lindsey Nair
981-3343

The last of 11 Mexican nationals convicted of scamming Botetourt County banks out of thousands of dollars were sentenced Tuesday in federal court.

U.S. District Judge James Turk sentenced Jose Ismael Quevedo-Guardado to almost six years in prison, while brothers Jose Tovar-Pena and Antonio Tovar-Pena each received a four-year sentence for bank fraud.

Hector Cruz-Hernandez, who could have gotten just as much time as Quevedo-Guardado and the Tovar-Penas, was sentenced to time served in exchange for cooperating with the federal government.

All of the defendants have been jailed since their arrests in March 2005 except Antonio Tovar-Pena, who was arrested in November in Pennsylvania.

According to court documents, the accused are almost all illegal immigrants who were recruited in their home city of San Vicente, Mexico, and smuggled across the border to commit crimes in the United States. They range in age from 21 to 53.

Officials say the men posed as job applicants at construction companies during the day, then came back after nightfall to break in and steal blank payroll checks from the bottom of the stack.

Four construction companies in Southwest Virginia were burglarized by the cell, court records show, including Scott-Gallaher Inc. of Botetourt County.

After stealing the checks, the defendants would travel to a safe house in Nashville, Tenn., and make them out to aliases that matched fake identification they had obtained. They then drove back to Virginia and cashed the checks for between $900 and $1,000 each.

A Bank of Botetourt teller became suspicious after the group cashed some Scott-Gallaher checks March 4. When the defendants returned March 7, the teller contacted the Botetourt County Sheriff's Office and 10 of the defendants were arrested.

A third Tovar-Pena brother, Arturo, has been charged by criminal complaint with illegal re-entry into the United States by a convicted felon, but the complaint also identifies him as a participant in the criminal cell. He remains at large.

Jose Luis Santillan-Rodriguez, Carlos Ruiz-Rocha and Manuel Lopez-Perez were all sentenced to one year and one day. Arnoldo Munguia-Verdusco received one year and 15 days, while Alejandra Aragon-Macias was sentenced to one year and two days.

Under immigration code, if an immigrant is convicted of an aggravated felony and sentenced to more than one year in prison, they may be immediately deported if they ever enter the United States again.

Ernesto Navarro-Segovia and Ivan Paul Sanchez were sentenced to time served.

All but Sanchez, a permanent resident of the United States, will likely be deported once they have served their time.

Get rid of Snachez too, legal resident or not. We don't need more crooks, we have enough.

http://www.dnronline.com/news_details.p ... 109&CHID=2

Four Sentenced In Check-Cashing Scam
Posted 2006-07-01

By David Reynolds


ROANOKE — A federal judge sentenced four men to prison this week for their part in a check-cashing scheme that hit Rockingham County, according to a statement from the office of U.S. Attorney John Brownlee.

The defendants, who are illegal immigrants from Mexico, forged payroll checks and cashed them at banks in Virginia, according to a January indictment.

The indictment also charged six others in the criminal conspiracy investigated by state and federal officials, the statement from Brownlee’s office says.

In September 2004, the scam hit locally when conspirators stole checks from Shields Construction in Harrisonburg and passed them at Rockingham Heritage Bank.

That scam netted $45,000, the statement says.

"These defendants tried to victimize our local businesses," Brownlee said in a written statement. "We hope these sentences send a clear message that this kind of fraud will be prosecuted."

The Sentences

The punishments handed down Tuesday by Judge James Turk in Roanoke follow guilty pleas in March to charges of conspiring to defraud the United States, and immigration offenses, according to the statement.

Jose Ismael Quevedo-Guardado, 30, was sentenced to 70 months in prison, the statement says.

Jose Julian Tovar-Pena, 41, and Antonio Tovar-Pena, were sentenced to four years in prison, the statement says.

Hector Cruz-Hernandez, 31, was sentenced to 478 days.

Prosecutors say the defendants were recruited in Mexico and California, then given fake identifications to pass bad checks in Virginia.

Larry Cosme and Rosalie Quintanilla of the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigated the case, the statement says. Officials with the FBI, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Botetourt County Sheriff’s Office also investigated.

Contact David Reynolds at 574-6278 or reynolds@dnronline.com