FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Monday, September 10, 2012
Docket #: 1:10-cr-00347-LJO

FRESNO, Calif. — Brad William Hesse, 52, of Castro Valley, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill to three years and one month in prison and ordered to pay $58,570 in restitution for ID theft, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. On April 30, 2012, Hesse pleaded guilty to wire fraud and possession of an identity document making device.

According to court documents, Hesse and others created checks and identification cards in the names of other people and then cashed the checks at Safeway and Wal-Mart stores throughout California and Oregon. The scheme was discovered when police found identification-making equipment during separate police actions at a motel in Clovis and at the Chukchansi Gold Resort and Casino in Coarsegold.

Hesse is the final defendant to be sentenced in this case. On January 12, 2011, Michelle Prince, 39, of Hayward, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison. On May 27, 2011, Michael Ian Conway, 40, of Hayward, was sentenced to three years and one month in prison, and on August 18, 2011, David Boyd Spivey, 38, of Hayward, was sentenced to two years and 11 months in prison.

This case was the product of an investigation by the United States Secret Service; the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General; sheriff departments in Alameda and Madera Counties; and police departments in Clovis, Calif. and McMinnville, Ore. Assistant United States Attorney Mark J. McKeon prosecuted the case.

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