Woman Sentenced in Federal Court on Counterfeit Checks Case, Must Pay $45K in Restitution

A 22-year-old woman was sentenced in federal court on Monday for using counterfeit checks at retail businesses to purchase gift cards and merchandise.

Ci’Preaunni Ja’Von Stewart was sentenced to time served on one count of aiding and abetting bank fraud. Stewart, who was indicted along with Ryan Lamarr Chambers on January 19, pleaded guilty on March 19.

“These defendants were well versed in the complexities of using identity theft to commit bank fraud," said Louis Stephens, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Minneapolis Field Office. "This type of crime continues to increase in complexity and impact to our economy each year.”

In her plea agreement, Stewart admitted that she and Chambers used counterfeit checks to purchase gift cards and merchandise primarily at Target stores. The couterfeit checks went undetected for days because the defendants claimed the checks were traveler’s checks. The Target stores impacted were located in Oakdale, Buffalo, Burnsville, Cottage Grove, Edina, Medina, Minneapolis, Minnetonka, St. Cloud, Vadnais Heights and Woodbury.

In addition, Stewart admitted to opening several bank accounts for the scheme. These accounts were funded with checks drawn on other accounts that contained insufficient funds to cover the checks. Once the unfunded accounts were opened, Stewart admitted to purchasing checks for those accounts.

On June 25, Chambers was sentenced to time already served, along with five years of supervised release on one count of bank fraud. He pleaded guilty on April 12. In his plea agreement, Chambers admitted his role in the scheme and admitted that the total loss was more than $30,000, but less than $70,000.

Chambers and Stewart were ordered to pay more than $45,000 in joint restitution.

On June 28, in a related case, Jamee Leah Spillman, 39, was sentenced to 57 months in prison on one count of aiding and abetting bank fraud. She was indicted on Jan. 19 and pleaded guilty on March 13. In her plea agreement, Spillman admitted that she applied for personal checking accounts using false identities and then used the fraudulent checks to purchase gift cards.

These cases were the result of investigations by the U.S. Secret Service, the Minnesota Financial Crimes Task Force and the Minneapolis Police Department. 

Sign up for Oakdale Patch's free e-newsletter | Like us on Facebook | Follow us on Twitter