A Rhode Island man in federal prison admitted Monday that he had deposited nearly $50,000 of stolen or fraudulent checks in his name into multiple bank accounts, U.S. prosecutors said.
Ryan Dacruz, 28, was charged alone in federal prison as a felon who possesses ammunition, U.S. Attorney Zachary Cunha said in a statement.
Da Cruz pleaded guilty on Monday, accusing bank fraud conspiracy. He is scheduled to be sentenced on March 11.
Dacruz admitted to a federal judge that he had deposited stolen or fraudulent checks into multiple bank accounts before being jailed.
Cunha said several checks were stole from the mail stream in the U.S.
Cunha said Da Cruz admitted that between February 2022 and May 2023, he opened bank accounts at four banks in Rhode Island and then deposited the stolen checks therein.
According to information provided to the court, most of the stolen checks are third-party business checks that appear to have been “washed” so that the payee’s name can be changed to Ryan Dacruz and deposited into his account.
Dacruz will then quickly withdraw cash or remittance to run out of the account.
When banks considered deposit checks as fraud, they closed their accounts.
Kuner said Dacruz will open a new account at another bank.
In some cases, banks are able to stop check payments before funds are completely exhausted; in other cases, Cunha says, they are not.
In August, Dacruz was sentenced to 24 months in federal prison for his conviction in January 2024 for his felony charge of possessing ammunition.
This is a developing story. As more information is available, check out the update.
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