TRENTON
– Attorney General Anne Milgram announced
that 31 defendants have been indicted in connection
with bank fraud schemes orchestrated by members
and associates of the Bloods street gang involving
more than $654,000 in counterfeit checks,
which resulted in the theft of more than $341,000
from eight banks.
The
charges stem from “Operation Bloodbank,”
an investigation by the New Jersey State Police,
the Division of Criminal Justice and the Monmouth
County Prosecutor’s Office. Milgram
made the announcement with Division of Criminal
Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni, State
Police Deputy Superintendent of Investigations
Lt. Col. Christopher Andreychak and Monmouth
County Prosecutor Luis A. Valentin.
The
investigation stemmed from a prior investigation
by the State Police and Division of Criminal
Justice that led to the indictment in June
2007 of 46 members of the Nine Trey Gangsters
set of the Bloods street gang, including its
top leaders, on various charges including
first-degree racketeering, murder, leading
a narcotics trafficking network and money
laundering.
In
the latest investigation, the eight leaders
of the criminal enterprise – six charged
in today’s indictment and two who pleaded
guilty last year – are alleged to be
members or associates of the Nine Trey Gangsters
set of the Bloods. They recruited people who
were not associated with the gang to participate
in the bank frauds.
“The
Bloods are a plague on our communities, trafficking
in drugs and guns and inflicting horrific
violence,” said Attorney General Milgram.
“This investigation reveals the Bloods
on new turf, defrauding banks of hundreds
of thousands of dollars using counterfeit
checks. Just as we have targeted the financial
crimes of traditional organized crime through
the years, we will crush any inroads by street
gangs into these activities, which could bankroll
more drug dealing and death.”
“Through
painstaking investigation, we have brought
down an elaborate racketeering enterprise
built on forgeries and counterfeiting, and
we have dried up another source of funding
for criminal street gangs,” Director
Gramiccioni said.
“The Nine Trey Bloods wouldn’t
survive long if they were only about weapons
and violence,” said Lt. Col. Andreychak.
“We have learned not to underestimate
the sophistication of street gangs and their
criminal enterprises.”
Monmouth
County Prosecutor Valentin said, “The
investigation revealed that members of the
Bloods are participating in criminal activities
beyond those schemes typically associated
with criminal street gangs. Law enforcement
must be vigilant in adapting our tactics to
the ever changing methods used by members
of street gangs to victimize our communities
and reap illicit benefits from criminal behavior.”
A state grand jury indictment charging the
12 leaders of the conspiracy with racketeering
and other charges was obtained on June 30
by the Division of Criminal Justice Gangs
& Organized Crime Bureau. It was sealed
until today, when a second indictment was
obtained charging 19 more participants in
the conspiracy.
According
to Director Gramiccioni, the multi-agency
investigation revealed a conspiracy organized
and led by members and associates of the Nine
Trey Gangsters set of the Bloods street gang,
whose purpose was to defraud banking institutions
of large amounts of money through several
schemes. The alleged conduct occurred between
2005 and 2007.
Members
of the conspiracy would recruit employees
of legitimate businesses throughout New Jersey
to allow them to copy or scan payroll checks
from their employers or personal checks for
old personal checking accounts, which they
would use in the scheme.
Copying
these checks gave them the format of the check,
the names on the account, and the corresponding
check routing numbers for the accounts. These
employees or account holders would be paid
money for the information. The information
was then used by members of the scheme to
forge payroll checks or to issue bad checks
drawn on the personal accounts.
The
managers of this criminal enterprise utilized
laptop computers and portable electronic equipment,
such as digital cameras, to create and print
counterfeit payroll checks and personal checks
payable to other members of the conspiracy.
Members
of the scheme would then recruit other participants
to assist them in obtaining cash using the
counterfeited checks. Two basic schemes were
used to obtain money utilizing the forged
payroll checks or personal checks:
1.
In the first method, the recruiter would recruit
an accomplice to cash a check. The recruiter
would get a forged check payable to the accomplice.
The check would then be taken to a branch
of the bank on which the check was drawn.
The check would be cashed, and the cash would
be split between the recruiter and the co-conspirator.
2.
The second method consisted of recruiting
individuals with bank accounts in various
banking institutions. The account holders
provided ATM or debit cards to the recruiters
who deposited fraudulent checks into the accounts.
The account holder or recruiter would then
withdraw money from the accounts when the
bank made the funds available, but before
the check was determined to be counterfeit.
The money obtained from the bank was divided
among the account holder, the recruiter and
the individual providing the counterfeit check.
Account holders were instructed to report
to their banks or to the police that they
were victims of identity theft.
The
investigation has established that this criminal
enterprise operated throughout New Jersey,
including the counties of Monmouth, Bergen,
Burlington, Camden, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon,
Middlesex, Ocean, Passaic, Somerset, Union
and Morris.
In
all, members of the criminal enterprise were
involved in passing approximately $654,000
worth of counterfeit checks between June 2005
and March 2007, and stealing approximately
$341,000 from eight banks: Bank of America,
PNC Bank, Valley National Bank, JP Morgan
Chase Bank, Commerce Bank, Wachovia Bank,
Bank of New York, and Sovereign Bank.
Checks
ranged in value from $400 to $9,000. The difference
in the total value of the checks counterfeited
and the money stolen is due to the fact that
in a number of instances, the banks discovered
the checks were bad and stopped payment or
froze accounts.
The
case was presented to the state grand jury
by Supervising Deputy Attorney General Andrew
M. Butchko, deputy chief of the Division of
Criminal Justice Gangs & Organized Crime
Bureau, and Assistant Prosecutor James Jones
of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s
Office, who was deputized as a special deputy
attorney general to prosecute the case with
Butchko.
The
investigation was led by Detective Sgt. Ronald
Hampton and Detectives Christopher Stafyleras,
Daniel Bergin and Matthew Broderick of the
New Jersey State Police Street Gang North
Unit; Supervising Deputy Attorney General
Butchko of the Division of Criminal Justice
Gangs & Organized Crime Bureau; and Assistant
Prosecutor Jones of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s
Office.
The
first indictment returned on June 30 charges
the following six defendants as managers of
the bank fraud schemes. Each of these managers
has been identified as an alleged member or
associate of the Nine Trey Gangsters set of
the Bloods street gang.
- Ernst
Francois, 36, of Irvington;
-
Albens Victor, 27, of Irvington;
-
Kenneth Tione Roberts, 34, of East Orange;
-
Woody Armand, 33, of East Orange;
-
Roosevelt Thelusma, 24, of Newark; and
-
Jeffery Dieurilus, 25, of Newark.
Victor
is in state prison in New Jersey serving a
prior sentence in connection with an unrelated
check fraud scheme, and Armand is in federal
prison in connection with a US Postal Service
case involving postal money orders. Thelusma
was arrested after the indictment was returned
and is in jail with bail set at $150,000.
Arrest warrants were issued for Francois,
Roberts and Dieurilus, who remain fugitives.
As
a result of the investigation, two other defendants
who were members of the Nine Trey Gangsters
set of the Bloods pleaded guilty to second-degree
racketeering in 2008 for their leadership
roles in the bank frauds. Andre Armand, 38,
of Irvington, who is Woody Armand’s
brother, and Jean Leneus, 26, of East Orange,
were each sentenced to six years in state
prison.
The
first indictment also charges the following
six people. It is alleged that they assisted
in cashing counterfeit checks, allowed their
bank accounts and ATM cards to be used in
the scheme, and acted as recruiters, recruiting
other account holders to participate in the
scheme.
- Bertha
B. Cajuste, 32, of Newark;
-
Quanise R. Freeman, 25, of Paterson;
-
Shamira Janay Champagne, 22, of Clifton;
-
Ashley Chante Brown, 25, of Irvington;
-
Vanessa L. Brown, 21, of Newark; and
-
Ritha Saluste, 31, of Irvington.
All
12 defendants in the first indictment are
charged with second-degree racketeering and
one or more counts of second- or third-degree
theft by deception. All 12 are also charged
with one or more counts of third-degree uttering
a forged instrument. Nine of the defendants
in the first indictment are charged with one
or more counts of third-degree attempted theft
by deception.
The
second indictment, which was returned today,
charges the following 19 additional defendants,
who allegedly participated in the scheme by
cashing counterfeit checks and allowing their
bank accounts and ATM cards to be utilized
in the scheme:
- Jacinth
Alese Buchanan, 23, of Paterson;
-
Marcus Dwayne Harris, 46, of Newark;
-
Al-Khabir Kwaan Diggs, 29, of Newark;
-
Keith F. Chipepo, 26, of Montclair;
-
Charles Palmer, 31, of Irvington;
-
Matthew Handel Richards, 25, of Plainfield;
-
Sakinah Ann Eure, 33, of Perth Amboy;
-
, of Paterson;
-
Michelle Lynn Horton, 27, of Paterson;
-
Linda Jules, 21, of Irvington;
-
Gregory S. Salters, 31, of Newark;
-
Janina M. Bolden-McCall, 30, of Irvington;
-
Linda Robinson, 30, of Bridgeton;
-
Dianna D. Huggins, 27, of Jersey City;
-
Kelly A. Montes, 27, of Morris Plains;
-
Javaira Naimaha Jihad, 22, of Newark;
-
Tamika Snowden, 22, of East Orange;
-
Jamie J. Tate, 33, of Irvington; and
-
Carlton Eugene Brown, 22, of West Orange.
All
19 of the defendants named in the second indictment
were charged with second-degree racketeering.
Each of the 19 defendants was also charged
with one or more counts of third-degree theft
by deception or attempted theft by deception,
as well as third-degree uttering a forged
instrument.
Second-degree
crimes carry a maximum sentence of 10 years
in state prison and a $150,000 fine, while
third-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence
of five years in prison and a $15,000 fine.
Fourth-degree crimes carry a maximum sentence
of 18 months in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The
indictments are merely accusations and the
defendants are presumed innocent until proven
guilty.
The
indictments were handed up to Superior Court
Judge Linda Feinberg in Mercer County, who
assigned them to Monmouth County.
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