Man sentenced to prison in nearly $700,000 bank fraud scheme that exploited local homeless individuals

PROVIDENCE, R.I. – A Georgia man who solicited, transported, and paid homeless individuals from the Providence area to cash hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of counterfeit business checks in four New England states was sentenced Tuesday to two years in federal prison, announced United States Attorney Zachary A. Cunha.

Jalen Ronald Stanford, 28, of Riverdale, GA, and others, created counterfeit checks generally in the amount of $2,000 or more. The checks were made payable to homeless individuals who agreed to be driven to banks in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Maine to cash them. These individuals were often paid approximately $100 per check that they successfully cashed. From October 2018 through February 2021, numerous homeless individuals were arrested at banks throughout the region as they attempted to cash some of the counterfeit checks.

A United States Secret Service investigation determined that approximately $677,687 worth of counterfeit checks were presented to banks throughout the four states, causing actual losses to financial institutions of nearly $481,000.

Stanford pled guilty on March 10, 2022, to conspiracy to commit band fraud. He was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., 24 months in federal prison to be followed by three years of federal supervised release. Stanford was ordered to pay restitution to financial institutions totaling $480,943.71.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee H. Vilker.

United States Attorney Cunha thanks the Providence and Medway, MA, Police Departments for their assistance in the investigation of this matter.