Authorities search for fraud suspects

VICTORVILLE • San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputies released photos Thursday of two women suspected of cashing fraudulent checks at Bank of America locations around the High Desert. Deputies are asking for the public’s help in identifying the women.

According to a news release, the suspects approached customers as they exited the bank on two different occasions in January. They asked the…

Kurtis Steele has pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark federal court to information charging him with one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud.

According to court documents, Steele, 26, and his conspirators gained access to blank checks that were sent via U.S. mail and stolen from unsuspecting victims. Steele and his co-conspirators then fraudulently endorsed the blank checks for a certain sum and deposited those checks into legitimate bank accounts that defendants and unnamed conspirators opened at the banks.

Before the victims and banks discovered the checks were fraudulent, Steele and his conspirators had withdrawn the funds either via automated teller machine (ATM) or by entering the banks and filling out a withdrawal slip.

  During the investigation, U.S. Postal Inspection Service and FBI agents were able to obtain bank video surveillance, which captured Steele making fraudulent deposits of the stolen checks and withdrawals of the proceeds of those checks.

Steele and his conspirators deposited $1.5 million in fraudulent checks stolen from 122 victims, which were deposited into 258 different banks. Steele and his conspirators’ conduct resulted in approximately $625,000 in losses.