Woman helps set up fake company, bank account to cash stolen $470,000 check, feds say

A Virginia woman helped set up a fake company, then created a bank account for the sham business as part of a plan to cash a stolen check worth nearly $470,000, federal prosecutors said.

A Greensboro, North Carolina company mailed the check through the U.S. Postal Service to Solutionz Inc., a California-based technology business in September 2021, according to court documents.

Then it was stolen from the mail before Solutionz received it, court documents say.

The woman, 51, of Farmville, has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit bank fraud, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a Nov. 6 news release.

Her court-appointed defense attorney, John Anthony Rockecharlie, declined McClatchy News’ request for comment on Nov. 7 and said he doesn’t comment on pending cases.

How the bank fraud scheme worked

The woman and her co-conspirators established a fake business with a name similar to Solutionz — “The Solutionz GA, Inc.” — in Georgia as part of their scheme on Sept. 27, 2021, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

She was named the business’ CEO and CFO, and opened a checking account for the fake company, prosecutors said.

The woman deposited the $468,477.13 stolen check belonging to Solutionz into the bank account — and drained the funds between October and November 2021, according to prosecutors.

During one of several transactions and transfers, she transferred $65,000 to her personal checking account, prosecutors said.

Her actions “were in all respects knowing and deliberate, and were not committed by mistake, accident, or other innocent reason,” prosecutors wrote in a statement of facts filed in court on Nov. 6.

She faces up to 30 years in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which notes that actual sentences issued to defendants in federal cases are often less than the maximum sentences possible.

The woman is scheduled to be sentenced on March 18, 2025, court records show.

Solutionz didn’t immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment Nov. 7.

This story was originally published November 7, 2024 at 11:55 AM with the headline "Woman helps set up fake company, bank account to cash stolen $470,000 check, feds say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.