L.I. Man Part Of Group That Scammed $1 Mil From Banks: Prosecutor

A Hempstead man was charged in federal court with three others in a scheme to steal peoples' identities in order to get more than $1 million in loans and lines of credit, prosecutors say.

Stanley Valon, 33, was charged along with Christian Hicks, 41, of Queens, Timel McRae, 41, of Brooklyn, and Roman Guevara, 48, of Sunnyvale, California. They were charged with multiple charges related to a scheme to use victims' personal information to steal money from financial institutions, prosecutors say.

“As alleged in the indictment, the defendants used other people’s personally identifiable information, together with false information, to obtain loans by fraud and steal money from banks,” said United States Attorney Richard Donoghue. “This office, together with our law enforcement partners, is committed to protecting our financial system from those who use fraud to line their own pockets.”

According to prosecutors, the four obtained other peoples’ personal information, such as their dates of birth and social security numbers, by promising, among other things, to enter into joint vehicle ownership ventures with them or to improve their credit scores. After securing the information, prosecutors say the four used it, as well as false employment and salary information in forged documents they created, to apply for car loans, obtain credit cards and secure lines of credit.

Prosecutors say the four used all of the funds provided by financial institutions for their own purposes and not, as they had promised, to enter into joint vehicle ownership or improve anyone’s credit scores. In the course of their fraudulent scheme, prosecutors say the four applied to financial institutions for automobile loans, lines of credit and credit cards with a value of more than $1.5 million.

All four were charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, access device fraud and aggravated identity theft.

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