Thread: CA-San Diego street gang charged in credit union scam

San Diego street gang charged in credit union scam

LA TIMES
11:34 AM | May 13, 2009

San Diego authorities announced today they will charge 60 people in connection with a scheme run by street-gang members who defrauded a San Diego credit union out of more than $500,000.

The scheme, run by members of the violence-prone Lincoln Park Gang, involved coercing members of the Navy Federal Credit Union into depositing bogus checks, said Dist. Atty. Bonnie Dumanis.

The money was then withdrawn from automatic teller machines at the Barona Indian Casino before credit union employees realized the checks were phony.

Dumanis said the operation shows street gangs are moving from traditional ventures, such as drugs and prostitution, into white-collar crime.


Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown called the defendants in a written statement "street thugs [who], operating like white-collar criminals, devised an ingenious scam."

The suspects, most of whom were arrested Tuesday, face 347 felony counts, including conspiracy, grand theft, money laundering, forgery and burglary. No employees of the casino or credit union were implicated, officials said.

Among those charged are three Marines, a sailor and an Army soldier, who had accounts at the credit union and cooperated with the scheme. Sixteen of the 60 are Lincoln Park Gang members.

San Diego police, the Secret Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Barona tribal government were involved in the 10-month investigation, dubbed Operation Bank Gig.

As part of the scheme, credit union members would report their cards stolen. The casino was targeted because it has a point-of-sale ATM that allows for larger withdrawals than most ATMs, officials said.

-- Tony Perry

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2 ... union.html

Dumanis said the operation shows street gangs are moving from traditional ventures, such as drugs and prostitution, into white-collar crime.

There is a high probability that any money brought in through the scheme would have gone out again in wholesale purchase of drugs.

Wait, I don't understand. According to how normal banks work, you deposit a check which is added to the balance, but is not credited to available funds. Things are going so fast these days there is nothing left of a 3 or 5-day check float anymore, and you better have cleared money in your account before you think about writing a check. Is there a difference with credit unions?

it is just another way for them to explain the proceeds of drug money.