A man from Maryland has been sentenced to 60 months in prison for his involvement in a scheme where he created fraudulent charities, deceived donors into giving money, and subsequently stole their identities.
James Trankle, 55, from Churchton, Maryland, was convicted in May for his involvement in a conspiracy to commit mail and bank fraud. He was also found guilty on five counts of bank fraud.
Trankle and his accomplice, Stephen Sibert, devised fraudulent charities such as the “Disabled and Paralyzed Veterans Fund,” the “National Breast Cancer Awareness Fund,” and the “Children’s Leukemia of America Fund,” as revealed in court documents. They cunningly exploited the goodwill of individuals by soliciting personal checks, totaling over 1,600, under the guise of charitable contributions. However, instead of delivering the funds to the intended beneficiaries, they slyly deposited the checks into their own bank account. Their deceitful actions enabled them to amass more than $45,000 from unsuspecting victims who believed their donations were going towards noble causes.
Trankle and Sibert utilized the bank account and routing details from the victims’ checks to their advantage. Unlawfully, they created and deposited counterfeit checks into their own bank accounts, allowing them to indulge in personal expenses. Astonishingly, they managed to deposit over 700 counterfeit checks, amounting to a staggering sum of over $150,000.
The fake charities used a P.O. box in Washington, D.C. as their official mailing address, but they never engaged in any charitable activities or made donations to other charities that carried out such work. Trankls has been sentenced to pay $204,561 in restitution, forfeit $135,327, and serve five years of supervised release.
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