Rockland DA: 2 admit to $20K money order scam
Lawrence Lazard and Fabrice Stinfil scheme to deposit more than 300 altered money orders into dozens of accounts in bank branches in New York and New Jersey, authorities said.
Two Spring Valley men face prison time after admitting to participating in the theft of more than $20,000 from several banks through doctored U.S. Postal Service money orders, Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said.
Lawrence Lazard, who lived at 106 Union Road, and Fabrice Stinfil of 5 George St. entered their pleas before County Court Judge David Zuckerman at the Rockland Courthouse in New City.
Lazard faces two to six years in prison on his guilty plea Wednesday to first-degree criminal possession of a forged instrument. He also must forfeit $17,568 to Capital One Bank and KeyBank as part of his plea accepted by Zuckerman.
He is scheduled for sentencing June 13.
Stinfil faces four years in prison at his scheduled sentencing Jan. 31 and must forfeit $2,724 to KeyBank as part of his sentence, Zugibe said.
He had pleaded guilty Aug. 3 to fourth-degree grand larceny and fourth-degree criminal facilitation, the DA said.
Both Lazard and Stinfil admitted "they ripped off numerous banks for thousands of dollars in a decidedly low-tech scam," Zugibe said. "They victimized not only the banks, which were forced to cover heavy losses, but also the honest customers who pay the price in higher fees."
Both men were charged following an investigation by the District Attorney’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit, ICE Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
Zugibe said the two men admitted that between June 2013 and November 2014 they conspired to deposit more than 300 altered money orders into dozens of accounts in bank branches in Rockland and Orange counties in New York and Bergen County in New Jersey.
They targeted Sterling National Bank, First Niagara Bank (now KeyBank) and Capital One Bank.
They altered the money orders by pasting photocopied, larger-dollar amounts over small dollar amounts on real money orders, Zugibe said.
Lazard stole about $25,000 by depositing 25 altered money orders into five bank accounts and then withdrawing the money before the banks and postal services caught the forgeries, Zugibe said.
Stinfil admitted he helped Lazard to commit a crime by opening a bank account at First Niagara Bank and turning the debit/ATM card and PIN over to Lazard, who then deposited altered money orders into Stinfil's account, Zugibe said.
inspector in charge.
Twitter: @lohudlegal