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Press Release

17 Year Fugitive Sentenced to Federal Prison

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Oklahoma

After 17 years on the run, a former Tulsa resident was sentenced to federal prison for violating the terms of his supervised release stemming from a 1999 bank fraud conviction, announced U.S. Attorney Trent Shores.

Senior U.S. District Judge Terence Kern sentenced Steven John McGuire, 54, of Henderson, Nevada, to six months imprisonment in the U.S. Bureau of Prisons followed by 18 months supervised release with the condition that he serve six months in home detention with electronic monitoring.

On Oct. 27, 1999, McGuire was sentenced for the crime of bank fraud. The defendant, who at the time did not have a previous criminal record, was sentenced to six months of home detention with electronic monitoring to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay restitution to the bank in the amount of $19,747.79.  In 2002, authorities discovered that he violated the terms of his supervised release by committing bank fraud again. McGuire fled Oklahoma knowing that he would face a potential prison sentence. United States Probation Officers found McGuire’s residence abandoned, his leased vehicle returned to the dealership, and his telephone accounts disconnected. From July 2002 until his arrest in February 2019, McGuire remained a fugitive.

“Steven McGuire is a con artist. He has not changed. He has a lengthy history of avoiding responsibility as evidenced by his continued fraudulent financial activity after his initial conviction, living as a fugitive under an assumed identity, and most recently, fleeing and violently resisting police officers who were about to discover there was a warrant for his arrest,” said U.S. Attorney Trent Shores. “Justice may have been delayed for 17 years, but today justice has been served.”

During his time as a fugitive, McGuire lived under an assumed identity near Henderson, Nevada. After a routine stop for a traffic violation in February 2019, the Henderson Police Department eventually learned of the warrant for McGuire’s arrest. When McGuire provided identification to the officer during the stop, the officer discovered the identification was false. McGuire then ran from the officer, and after a lengthy foot pursuit and violent struggle, McGuire was taken into custody. The officer later found other fraudulent identification in the car. It wasn’t until McGuire was fingerprinted that his true identity became known.

In 1998, McGuire’s initial crime consisted of depositing a $25,000 temporary check into his business bank account drawn on a different bank account in McKinney, Texas, that in reality only had a balance of $100. On May 14, 1998, the victim bank credited McGuire’s account with the $25,000. This inflated the balance in that account, allowing McGuire to withdraw cash and write checks totaling $22,747.79 prior to the return of the unfunded check. This illegal practice is also known as check kiting. Later on May 28, 1998, McGuire received a legitimate check from a customer for approximately $34,000. Instead of depositing those funds into his account at the victim bank to cover his inflated balance there, McGuire opened yet another bank account at a third bank, and purchased a $33,000 Certificate of Deposit, also known as a CD, to secure a $35,000 line there. He was sentenced on Oct. 27, 1999 for the crime.

On Dec. 16, 1999, the conditions of McGuire’s supervised release were modified to reflect improper conduct on his part. McGuire’s business partner discovered that McGuire had used the working capital that he had supplied to McGuire to pay restitution for his crime instead of paying the expenses of the business. This left the business with a $9,000 debt. The business partner withdrew from the partnership. McGuire then began soliciting investors in violation of the Special Financial Conditions of his Supervised Release.

In 2002, a Petition to Revoke Supervised Release was filed alleging McGuire had committed the same type of bank fraud that had resulted in his conviction in 1999. McGuire had deposited a fraudulent check in his business account at Tulsa Case Federal Employees Credit Union, thereby inflating the balance. McGuire then used funds from the inflated balance to get the bank to issue two unfunded cashier’s checks in the amount of $6,000 and $9,893 so he could pay suppliers to his business.

McGuire remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.

The U.S. Marshal Service of the Northern District of Oklahoma and the District of Nevada, U.S. Probation Office and the Henderson Nevada Police Department conducted the investigation, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles McLoughlin prosecuted the case.

Contact

Public Affairs
918-382-2755

Updated April 17, 2019

Topic
Financial Fraud