United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

BROTHER AND SISTER WHO RAN
COUNTERFEIT CHECK CASHING CONSPIRACY
IN DALLAS/FORT WORTH AREA SENTENCED

A brother and sister who were convicted at trial in August for running a counterfeit check cashing conspiracy were sentenced yesterday in federal court, announced United States Attorney Richard B. Roper. Juan Manuel Pena was sentenced to 33 months and his sister, Maria D. Pena was sentenced to 30 months by the Honorable Barefoot Sanders, United States Senior District Judge. Following the two-day trial, and one hour of jury deliberation, each was convicted on both counts of an indictment charging conspiracy to utter and possess counterfeit obligations of an organization and possessing counterfeit securities. Both Juan Manuel Pena and Maria D. Pena are in custody.

At trial, the government presented evidence that from December 2005 through mid-January, 2006, Houston residents, Juan Manuel Pena, 26, and Maria D. Pena, 28, along with their brother, Rene Octavio Pena-Mejia, 34, and his wife, Elizabeth Simon-Lopez, 24, both of Dallas, ran a scheme in which they purchased legitimate payroll checks from random employees of businesses in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and then used them to make counterfeit payroll checks. Both Rene Octavio Pena-Majia and Elizabeth Simon-Lopez pled guilty prior to trial for their role in the conspiracy and to improper entry into the U.S. by an alien. In September, Rene Octavio Pena-Majia was sentenced to 21 months imprisonment and Elizabeth Simon-Lopez was sentenced to 22 months imprisonment.

Each of the four defendants was ordered, jointly and severally, to pay $138,103.69 in restitution.

The defendants mailed the authentic payroll checks, along with a list of names, to an address in Compton, California, where counterfeit payroll checks were produced and drawn on the organization’s account information listing the names from the list as payees. A co-conspirator mailed the counterfeit payroll checks from California back to the defendants at their home on Glenfield Avenue in Dallas, where the counterfeit checks were then distributed to various individuals (check cashers) who then cashed the checks at various check-cashing establishments. The check cashers were paid with part of the proceeds from the cashed checks and the four defendants kept the remaining balance, which was later sent, in part, to another co-conspirator in Mexico.

According to the government, had the defendants succeeded in their scheme, the loss to the victims in this crime, would have exceeded $200,000. The actual loss was approximately $138,000.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa J. Miller and Juan Carlos Rodriguez.

###