4 Mercer Co. Residents Plead Guilty In $11M Bank Fraud Case

MERCER COUNTY, NJ — Four Mercer County residents have pleaded guilty to their roles in a conspiracy to defraud banks by depositing stolen checks and withdrawing the funds, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer said.

Clarence Semmon, 42, of Trenton, and Joseph Graves-Carmichael, 43, of Trenton, both pleaded guilty on July 22. John Gerard Ebert, 42, of Hamilton, pleaded guilty on Aug. 4. Shabazz Rouzard, 34, of Ewing, also pleaded guilty on July 22.

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All four pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Michael A. Shipp in Trenton federal court to a one-count Information charging them with conspiracy to commit bank fraud. They were among eight total defendants named in the case.

Semmon and Graves-Carmichael are scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 9. Rouzard is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 16. Ebert is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 17.

According to documents filed in the case and statements made in court, from March 2023 through June 2025, the defendants conspired to deposit stolen checks — including U.S. Department of Treasury checks — at various banks in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. The conspirators impersonated the businesses or individuals listed as payees on the stolen checks, often by acquiring business documents in the names of the payees.

Once the conspirators acquired fraudulent business documents or opened fraudulent bank accounts, they deposited the stolen checks and split the proceeds, prosecutors said. In total, the conspirators deposited or attempted to deposit more than 100 Treasury and commercial checks totaling over $11 million.

Many of the Treasury checks were refunds issued as Employee Retention Credits, a program the Internal Revenue Service created during the COVID-19 pandemic to encourage businesses to retain employees.

The bank fraud conspiracy charge carries a maximum potential penalty of 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million, twice the gross amount of any pecuniary gain derived from the offense, or twice the gross amount of any pecuniary loss sustained by victims.

The other four defendants — Britany Brown, 39, of Philadelphia; Andrew Hooper, 38, of New Brunswick; Thomas Lee, 56, of Beverly; and Patricia Kearse, 47, of Philadelphia — also pleaded guilty to the same charge.

The case was investigated by the FBI's Newark-Trenton Resident Agency, Homeland Security Investigations in Cherry Hill, the IRS Criminal Investigation Newark Field Office, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, the Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service's Philadelphia Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin D. Bleiberg of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark is prosecuting the case.

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