LOS ANGELES – A trio of Highland Park men has been charged for allegedly stealing checks from Post Offices and using social media to find accounts to deposit them, netting at least $800,000 in losses.
The indictment, returned on May 14, charges Antonio Hernandez, 20, Ivan Murillo-Hernandez, 20, and Alexis Garcia Martinez, 28, with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud. Hernandez is also charged with one count of bank fraud, one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of robbery of a post office, and one count of mail theft. Murillo-Hernandez is also charged with one count of mail theft.
According to the indictment, from November 2022 to August 2023, Hernandez, Murillo-Hernandez, and others stole mail from U.S. post office docks and other locations in the mail stream, including by using threats of violence, with the aim of stealing mail containing checks belonging to various victims. The indictment alleges mail thefts from a Highland Park apartment building as well as from post offices in Studio City, Azusa, Upland, Anaheim, El Segundo, and Beverly Hills.
The defendants allegedly used social media to solicit bank account holders to provide their debit card and account information by promising them a cut of any fraudulently obtained funds deposited into their accounts. To avoid banks’ fraud protections, the co-conspirators requested bank accounts that had been open for a certain amount of time so they could access the stolen funds more quickly.
Hernandez and Murillo-Hernandez allegedly deposited the stolen funds into the third-party bank accounts by falsely representing that they were the payees on the checks and were entitled to the money. Then, they rapidly depleted the fraudulently deposited funds from the third-party accounts by making cash withdrawals, electronic transfers, or debit card purchases, according to the indictment.
Hernandez and Murillo-Hernandez also sold and attempted to sell stolen checks to others who fraudulently cashed them, the indictment states. In April 2023, after stealing mail from an Anaheim post office, Hernandez, Murillo-Hernandez, and three minors led police on a high-speed chase on the 57 and 60 freeways and dumped mail out of a gray Toyota Camry as they fled.
Hernandez and Murillo-Hernandez have pleaded not guilty to the charges against them and are scheduled to go to trial on July 8. Martinez is in state custody on unrelated charges and is expected to be transferred over to federal custody in the coming weeks.
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Key Facts
- State: California
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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