Five Fresno residents pleaded guilty in federal court to participating in a bank fraud scheme that they organized on Facebook.
The fraud scheme lasted one year and sought to defraud banks out of $1 million.
The big picture: The five defendants are Zorian Temple, 25, Davonntae Barfield, 31, Zion Brewer, 40, Nyric Hinton, 28, and Harry Cooper Neal, 30.
Temple pleaded guilty to bank fraud on Monday. Barfield, Brewer and Hinton pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, followed by Neal on Aug. 31.
Driving the news: Brewer was a U.S. Postal Service employee who stole checks from the mail and gave them to the other defendants from 2022 to 2023.
The other defendants recruited bank account holders or used their own bank accounts to deposit the stolen checks and withdraw the proceeds.
They met each other and coordinated the scheme primarily through Facebook and Facebook MEssenger.
By the numbers: The stolen checks had a face value of more than $1 million, but the actual loss to the banks was a few hundred thousand dollars due to stopped payments.
What we’re watching: Neal is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 30. Barfield, Brewer and Hinton will be sentenced on Dec. 7, and Temple will be sentenced on Jan. 11.
They face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.