THREE PLEAD GUILTY IN MILLION DOLLAR CONSPIRACY AND BANK FRAUD SCHEME

Boston, MA... Three of ten defendant’s pled guilty in federal court on June 23, 2006, to conspiracy and bank fraud charges.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; Steven D. Ricciardi, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service in New England; and Peter Zegarac, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, announced that JAMES ROBERT NORMIL, SHAVONNE NOBLE, and TYAMISHA TAVARES, pled guilty before Chief Judge Mark L. Wolf to an Indictment charging them with one count each of Conspiracy and one or more counts each of Bank Fraud.

The Indictment alleged that the defendants, working with seven other named defendants and numerous unindicted co-conspirators conspired to obtain account information of numerous customers of banks in New England. The defendants used this information to create counterfeit checks, which they cashed or deposited. The total loss and attempted loss as a result of this scheme was in excess of $1,000,000.

During the plea hearing, JAMES ROBERT NORMIL, SHAVONNE NOBLE, and TYAMISHA TAVARES each admitted that he or she was involved in the conspiracy, and that he or she committed bank fraud by either directly cashing counterfeit checks, or encouraging and assisting others who they knew to be cashing counterfeit checks.

Each of the three defendants face up to 5 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine on the Conspiracy count, and up to 30 years imprisonment, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release, and a $1,000,000 fine on each of the Bank Fraud counts.

Charges are still pending against the remaining seven defendants.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Secret Service, and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth P. Berman in Sullivan’s Computer Crimes Unit.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139