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Press Release

Traveling Fraudsters Plead Guilty To Felony Bank Fraud Charges After Arrest in Edwardsville

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Southern District of Illinois

Elvin Lugo-Cales, 47, of Orlando, Florida, and Johnny Collado, 30, of Bronx, New York, pleaded
guilty this week to multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank
fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, on March 2, 2020, Lugo-Cales and Collado traveled from New York to
St. Louis for the sole purpose of defrauding banks in the St. Louis metro region. On March 5, they
drove to a U.S. Bank location in Edwardsville, Illinois. Collado waited in the car while Lugo-Cales
went into the bank. Inside, Lugo-Cales presented a fake United States passport bearing his
photograph but someone else’s name and tried to cash a counterfeit check in the amount of $3,650
made payable to that other person. Fortunately, the bank teller recognized the check was
counterfeit, refused to conduct the transaction, and called the police. Lugo-Cales left the bank
and drove away with Collado, leaving the counterfeit check and false passport with his picture on
it with the teller. The two men were stopped by police and taken into custody a short time later.

At the time of his arrest, Collado possessed and attempted to conceal numerous items used to
perpetrate the fraud scheme, including over $20,000 cash, numerous blank counterfeit checks, a
counterfeit Oregon driver’s license, and a false United States passport card.

Sentencing hearings for the two men will be held on April 27, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. and 1:30
p.m. at the federal courthouse in Benton, Illinois. Lugo-Cales and Collado face up to 30 years in
prison and a fine of up to $1,000,000 on each of their fraud charges. Their aggravated identity
theft charges carry a mandatory sentence of two years of imprisonment, which must run consecutively
to any other sentence imposed.

The investigation was conducted by the Edwardsville Police Department and United States
Secret Service. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Luke J. Weissler.

Updated January 25, 2021