Posted on 07/10/2004 8:53:08 AM PDT by Theodore R.
22-year-old gets prison sentence
By Jessica Lowell rep5@wyomingnews.com Published in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle
CHEYENNE - A Cheyenne man who pleaded guilty in April to charges of bank fraud and money laundering was sentenced Friday to 25 months in federal prison and five years of supervised release.
Raymond Peter Montoya, 22, also was ordered to pay restitution totaling $350,000.
Court papers say Montoya was working at First Interstate Bank as a teller when he started taking money from the account of Thrifty Cash Services in October 2002. He faked 35 transactions over the course of a year.
The money funded an extravagant lifestyle for a bank teller. He told co-workers he had a trust fund; he told family members that he had won a lottery that paid him $10,000 a month.
He traveled to Miami, Beverly Hills and other places; he bought designer clothes and jewelry; he owned three cars.
Both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division investigated. The IRS seized a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta, a 1999 Lincoln Navigator and 2001 Lexus along with nearly $12,000 in cash.
Montoya could have faced a maximum of 40 years in prison and $1.2 million in fines.
Thrifty Cash Services and First Interstate Bank have reached a settlement in the case; the terms are confidential.
A check of court records showed that Montoya had pleaded guilty in 2000 for cashing a check made out to someone else while he was a teller at another bank. His sentence in that case included a five-year probation and the order that he not work for another bank. After a year, however, Montoya asked for and got a reduction in his probation because he said he wanted to attend college out of state.
I would say someone at the Thrifty Cash Services was not doing there job if it took 35 unauthorized transactions before this kid was caught.
If you're going to steal, steal enough to run a long time. I don't think the statue of limitations run out for fraud.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.