They put on COVID masks and cashed $100,000 in bad checks at MS Coast bank, records show
Three Honduran nationals charged in a federal bank fraud case are among the 12 to 16 suspects who cashed $100,000 in fraudulent checks at a Moss Point bank, according to court records.
The suspects were packed into three vehicles that had stopped in a parking lot near Merchants and Marine bank on Highway 613 in Moss Point the afternoon of May 27, according to FBI Safe Streets Task Force agent Brodey Gibson.
Before emerging from the vehicles that day around noon, Gibson said, witnesses saw the suspects change their clothes and put on masks similar to those used to fight COVID-19.
So far, three of the suspects — identified as Enmer Ramon Garay Coello, Carlos Eduardo Espinal and Jorge Joseph Romero — have been taken into custody in South Mississippi.
Those arrests occurred during a Harrison County traffic stop nearly three hours after the bank manager called to report the crimes to the Moss Point Police Department. The Harrison County deputy who stopped the car did not know the suspects had been involved in the alleged bank fraud scheme until after their arrests.
During the Harrison County stop, authorities found 38 fraudulent identification cards, cash and marijuana in three different containers in the gray Volkswagen they were in, the records say.
A federal grand jury has since indicted all three on charges of bank fraud, attempt and conspiracy to commit bank fraud, conspiracy to possess with intent to use or transfer five or more documents or authentication devices, and fraud or misuse of permits and visas.
Coello is facing an additional federal charge of unlawful transportation or moving of people living or immigrating to the country illegally for commercial advantage or private gain.
The federal bank fraud and conspiracy charges carry a maximum sentence of up to 60 years each.
According to the reports, the investigation began the afternoon of May 27 after the bank manager called Moss Point police to report the suspects had just cashed 56 fraudulent checks.
The bank manager told authorities the bank cashed the checks after one of the suspects who spoke fluent English erroneously explained that they had just arrived in the area to do work and would be around the area for a month.
The fraudulent checks had been written under the account name of National Contracting, the complaint says.
This story was originally published September 14, 2022 at 11:24 AM.
