Honduran woman gets prison time for Hudson business check fraud

Talk about it

A woman from the Honduras was sentenced Monday in federal court to four months in prison for a case of bank fraud, perpetrated through a River Falls bank earlier this year.

Virginia Martinez Castillo, 21, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb following Castillo's guilty plea, entered on Aug. 19.

Castillo's four-month sentence reflects the fact she cooperated with law enforcement by helping to indentify other members of a group involved in a stolen check-cashing scheme.

A co-defendant in the case, Julio Benitez Zamorano, is to be sentenced on Oct. 28th. Three others were also charged in a separate indictment and they'll be arraigned on Thursday, Oct. 22nd in Madison.

Stephen Sinnott, acting U.S. Attorney for the Western District, recounted the crime this way through a press release issued Tuesday:

On March 16, 2009, a group of individuals -- including Castillo and Zamorano -- entered the First National Bank of River Falls and presented stolen checks drawn on the account of St. Croix Custom Fabrication, Inc. The checks cashed by the pair were made payable to "Ismael Vazquez" and "Rebecca Silva" and they provided false identification in those names. Prior to cashing the checks, the teller required the two to place their fingerprints on the checks.

Castillo and Zamorano were arrested a week later in Albert Lea, Minn., after they tried to cash more stolen checks at a local bank. The pair were fingerprinted after their arrest and their prints matched those on checks cashed in River Falls.

The charges against the two were the result of an investigation conducted by the Plover-, River Falls- and New Richmond police departments and the FBI.

Prosecution of the case was handled by assistant U.S. Attorney Rita M. Rumbelow.

St. Croix Custom Fabrication, Inc., is located 589 Schommer Dr., in Hudson.

Tags: bank fraud, st. croix custom fabrication, stolen checks, crimes and courts, news,