Fifteen people have been arrested by state and federal authorities in an alleged half-million-dollar check scheme that defrauded Citizens Bank, law enforcement officials announced Thursday.
Organized leaders of the scam allegedly recruited many young adults to participate in the scheme, which used a series of bogus check deposits and subsequent withdrawals to defraud Citizens Bank, officials said. The investigation is continuing and more arrests are expected, police said.
According to an affidavit, the scheme was perpetrated approximately 53 times between March and November of 2005 and Citizens incurred a total loss of approximately $566,000 as a result of the scheme.
The U.S. Secret Service, the Rhode Island State Police, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the scheme.
Three Providence men have been charged with federal bank fraud. In addition, 12 individuals have been charged with state offenses for their alleged roles in the scheme.
Federal complaints charge Joseph D’Anna, 22, Charles Lambert, 38, and Anthony Dimeo, 35, all of Providence, with bank fraud. All three men were arrested in November, appeared before a federal magistrate judge and were released on bond. Bank fraud is a felony and the charges against Lambert, D’Anna and Dimeo are subject to a review by a federal grand jury.
On Wednesday, Feb. 1, state police announced the arrests of six individuals for their alleged participation in the scheme. All six individuals were charged with one felony count of obtaining money under false pretenses.
The six individuals arrested Wednesday were: Nicholas Andreoli, 20, of East Providence; Derek Cabrera, 21, of Cranston; Elaine DiSano, 45, of Providence; Tarik Metts, 22, of Pawtucket; Jennifer Munor, 21, of Providence; and Rafael Pajaro, 18, of Providence.
All six of these individuals were returned to state police headquarters in North Scituate for criminal processing. All six were then arraigned in 6th Division Court in Providence before Judge Michael Higgins. All were released on $10,000 personal recognizance to appear in Providence County Superior Court on April 5. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement helped in the arrests Wednesday.
According to a Secret Service agent’s affidavit, Dimeo directed Lambert and D’Anna to recruit college-age individuals to deposit worthless checks in Citizens Bank accounts and withdraw funds before Citizens could determine that the checks were worthless. Many of the college-age students whom the three defendants allegedly recruited used their own personal bank accounts as the repository for the worthless checks.
The day after checks were deposited, Lambert and another man, who is not identified in the affidavit, would drive the account holder to three different Citizens branches to withdraw funds. By making successive withdrawals at three different branches, they were often allegedly able to withdraw nearly three times the purported value of the worthless checks. On one occasion, for instance, Lambert allegedly deposited a $4,900 check into an account and the following day, $14,000 was withdrawn at three different Citizens branches.
After the withdrawals were made, the individual whose account was used was typically paid $1,500, Lambert and D’Anna each kept $1,500, and Dimeo kept the remainder of the withdrawals, typically between $9,000 and $10,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker is prosecuting the federal case.
