Second Maryland Man Sentenced to 15 Months in Prison
In Check-Kiting Scheme That Cheated Banks Out of $188,000
- Co-Defendant Was Sentenced Last Week -

     WASHINGTON - Ernesto Gonzalez Morales, 35, of Rockville, Maryland, was sentenced today to 15 months in prison on a federal charge stemming from his role in a conspiracy to defraud financial institutions of more than $188,000, announced U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. and Daniel S. Cortez, Inspector in Charge of the Washington Division of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

     Morales pled guilty in September 2011 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to a charge of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. He was sentenced by the Honorable Emmet G. Sullivan. In addition to the prison term, Morales was ordered to pay $188,963 in restitution, and the Court entered an asset forfeiture judgment in the same amount.

     Morales also will forfeit $3,487 in cash that was seized in a search of his residence.

     A co-defendant, Fernando Manuel Cal Denis, 32, also of Rockville, Maryland, pled guilty in August 2011 to conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Judge Sullivan sentenced him last week to a 15-month prison term, and ordered him to pay $188,963 in restitution, forfeit $3,487 in cash that was seized at the defendants’ home, and forfeit a 2012 Mazda station wagon.

     According to evidence presented to the court by Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Schornstein, Morales, and others conspired from June 2009 to June 2011 to carry out a check-kiting scheme that targeted at least nine banks in the District of Columbia and elsewhere.

     Morales and Cal Denis opened the accounts by presenting Mexican passports using a variety of names, as well as Articles of Organization for purported businesses. Once these accounts were opened, the men made a series of fraudulent deposits and transactions.

     The scheme involved nearly $400,000 in financial transactions, with four banks actually losing the $188,963.

     In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Machen and Inspector in Charge Cortez praised the work of Special Agent Christopher Saunders of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, who investigated the case. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who worked on the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Legal Assistant Jared Forney, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sherri L. Schornstein, who is prosecuting the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Saler, who assisted with Asset Forfeiture.

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