Bonners Ferry Man Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft
Admits Stealing Funds from Elderly Victim
COEUR D'ALENE – Christopher M. Doyle, 25, of Bonners Ferry, Idaho, pleaded guilty today in United States District Court to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Wendy J. Olson announced. Doyle was indicted by a federal grand jury sitting in Coeur d’Alene on September 21, 2010.
According to the plea agreement, Doyle admitted that on April 6, 2010, while employed at Ace's Elder Care, a nursing home, he stole two checks belonging to an elderly patient residing in the facility. Both checks were drawn on the victim’s bank account. Doyle admitted that he forged the victim’s name on the signature line and made it payable to his girlfriend in the amount of $500. Doyle then deposited the check into his girlfriend's bank account using an ATM. According to the plea agreement, Doyle’s image was captured showing him depositing the check at the ATM. On April 22, 2010, during an interview with a U.S. Postal Inspector, Doyle admitted that he stole the victim’s checks while working at the nursing home and deposited them into his girlfriend's bank account.
Bank fraud is punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a maximum fine of $1 million, and up to five years of supervised release. Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a mandatory term of two years in prison, consecutive, up to one year of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $250,000.
Doyle is scheduled to be sentenced on February 5, 2013, before U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge at the federal courthouse in Coeur d’Alene.
The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
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