Pair face prison after admitting to bank fraud in southern Illinois federal court
A pair of out-of-state men admitted in federal court that they traveled from New York to St. Louis with the sole purpose of defrauding banks throughout the region, including a U.S. Bank branch location in Edwardsville.
Elvin Lugo-Cales, 47, of Orlando, Florida, and Johnny Collado, 30, of Bronx, New York, pleaded guilty to multiple federal charges, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft, according to a release from the office of U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois Steven D. Weinhoeft.
According to court records, on March 5, 2020 Collado and Lugo-Cales drove to a U.S. Bank location in Edwardsville. Lugo-Cales presented a fake United States passport bearing his photograph but someone else’s name and tried to cash a counterfeit check in the amount of $3,650.
The bank teller recognized the check was counterfeit, refused to conduct the transaction and called police, court records say. Lugo-Cales left the bank and drove away with Collado, leaving the counterfeit check and false passport picture on it with the teller.
The two men were stopped by police and taken into custody a short time later, according to the court release.
At the time of his arrest, Collado possessed and attempted to conceal numerous items used to carry out the fraud scheme, including $20,000 cash, numerous blank counterfeit checks, a counterfeit Oregon’s drivers license, and a U.S. passport.
Sentencing hearings for the two men will be held on April at the federal courthouse in Benton. Lugo-Cales and Collado face up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million on each of their fraud charges, Weinhoeft said.
Their aggravated identity theft charges carry a mandatory sentence of two years of imprisonment, which must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed.
The investigation was conducted by the Edwardsville Police Department and United States Secret Service.
This story was originally published January 23, 2021 at 12:39 PM.
