Passaic County Man Sentenced to 17 Months in Prison for Bank Fraud Conspiracy

NEWARK, N.J. –  A Passaic County, New Jersey, man was sentenced today to time served – 17 months – for his role in a bank fraud conspiracy, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.

Miguel Ortiz, 22, of Paterson, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Judge McNulty imposed the sentence by videoconference today.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Ortiz and others participated in a conspiracy to commit bank fraud in which they conspired to break into U.S. Postal Service collection boxes throughout New Jersey and then steal mail. The members of the conspiracy agreed to fraudulently deposit stolen checks into bank accounts associated with members of the conspiracy, despite the fact that they were not payees on the checks. Members of the conspiracy then withdrew funds from those accounts.

Judge McNulty also sentenced Ortiz to three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay $90,864 in restitution and $23,123 in forfeiture.

Acting U.S. Attorney Honig credited postal inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Inspector in Charge Raimundo Marrero, with the investigation leading to today’s sentencing.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Calle of the Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.