A Huntsville man has been locked up for running a cold, calculated check fraud ring that bled a bank of nearly $80,000. Bernard Eugene McKinney II, 29, was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to forfeit $79,619 after a jury convicted him on five counts of bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft.
The scheme, which unfolded in 2014, wasn’t some spur-of-the-moment hustle — it was a full-blown operation. McKinney recruited friends and associates to cash counterfeit checks across the Huntsville area, using stolen business checks ripped from U.S. mail. He altered the payee names, forged signatures, and funneled the cash through BBVA Compass Bank branches in north Alabama.
Federal prosecutors laid it bare: this wasn’t a one-off mistake. According to the government’s sentencing memorandum, McKinney made a conscious decision each time a fake check changed hands. He pulled five other people into the web, spreading the risk while padding his pockets with stolen funds over several days of transactions.
U.S. District Judge Sharon Lovelace Blackburn handed down the sentence in Birmingham, making it clear there would be no leniency for financial crimes that erode public trust. McKinney must report to federal prison on February 6, facing years behind bars for a crime built on deception and exploitation.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service led the investigation, tracking how McKinney accessed checks mailed to businesses, duplicated them, and manipulated the system. Assistant U.S. Attorney David H. Estes prosecuted the case, emphasizing the premeditated nature of the fraud and the damage done to both the bank and the integrity of financial mail.
With a three-year sentence and nearly $80,000 in forfeiture, the fallout marks another hard lesson in the cost of greed. Bernard Eugene McKinney II didn’t just forge checks — he forged a path straight to federal prison.
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Key Facts
- State: Alabama
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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