DOJ: USPS employee involved in Fresno-based $1M bank fraud scheme

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Six people, five from Fresno and one from Los Angeles, were charged in connection with a year-long bank fraud scheme that intended to defraud credit unions of nearly $1 million – among them, there was a U.S. Postal Service worker who assisted with the scheme, the United States Department of Justice said.

The DOJ says Abreiana Rogers, 29, of Los Angeles and Fresno residents Nyric Hinton, 26, Zion Brewer, 39, Zorian Temple, 23, Davonntae Barfield, 30 and Harry Cooper Neal, 29, were all charged in connection with a year-long bank fraud scheme with the intent of defrauding credit unions of nearly $1 million.

Court documents report the defendants used Facebook and Facebook Messenger between April 2022 and Jan. 31, 2023, to recruit bank account holders, promising them a cut of any fraudulent funds deposited into their accounts. These accounts were used to deposit stolen and fraudulent checks.

The DOJ says Brewer, a USPS employee, assisted by stealing mail containing checks and other financial information to provide it to his co-conspirators.

Federal officials say the group and others would deplete the fraudulent deposited funds from the account holders’ accounts through electronic transfers and cash withdrawals – the group would share the proceeds among themselves and their conspirators.

The DOJ says the defendants shared information about weaknesses in the financial institutions’ fraud protection system to circumvent them. To conceal the fraud, the group told account holders to claim their accounts were compromised if the financial institutions contacted them to ask about the funds.

By doing this, officials say the defendants are alleged to have attempted at least $1 million in fraudulent transactions with financial institutions, fraudulently used over 100 bank accounts and obtained hundreds of thousands of dollars from financial institutions.

If convicted, the defendants face a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and for any count of bank fraud; officials add Rogers also faces a two-year mandatory consecutive prison sentence for aggravated identity theft if convicted.