Counterfeit Checks and Victim Identification Used in Scheme to
Defraud Banks and Businesses
MEDFORD, Ore. - Ryan Juan Pitcher, 38, and Shawn Francis Farrell, 31, both from Medford, Oregon, and Logan Chad Clark, 25, Rogue River, Oregon were sentenced to federal prison Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Owen M. Panner for their convictions for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and possessing and passing counterfeit checks. Pitcher was sentenced to 94 months; Farrell was sentenced to 36 months; and, Clark was sentenced to 24 months in addition to the time he had already served in federal custody. As part of each sentence, each defendant received a mandatory consecutive term of two years in prison required by federal statute where a victim’s identification was possessed or used in committing bank fraud.
According to documents filed with the court, Assistant U. S. Attorney Byron Chatfield said Pitcher was instrumental in committing all of the offenses that occurred in the latter part of 2013. He stole mail from postal collection boxes and mailboxes belonging to businesses and individuals and then used the personal identification to create various counterfeit identification and numerous counterfeit checks. In accomplishing the scheme, he used computers, printers, check-making software and paper stock to make the checks. He provided the items to other co-conspirators instructing them on how and where to negotiate the counterfeit checks. As part of their compensation, he provided them with drugs and/or money. Pitcher also has four prior state convictions for identity theft that included the use of stolen mail in passing fraudulent checks, as well as one other federal conviction in Oregon for possessing stolen mail.
Also according to court documents, Farrell committed much of the criminal activity on his own without participation of the other co-conspirators. He made counterfeit identification from a victim’s driver’s license he had stolen from the mail and used it multiple times to negotiate counterfeit payroll checks including opening a bank account in the victim’s name and, after depositing counterfeit checks, withdrawing money from bank branches in Ashland and Grants Pass, Oregon. Police arrested Farrell when he attempted to cash a counterfeit payroll check at another bank in Grants Pass. When police arrived, he assumed the identity of the victim, presenting the victim’s US Passport he had used in attempting to pass the counterfeit check. Several months earlier, Farrell was also convicted of identity theft in Jackson County, Oregon and was currently on probation when he committed the federal offenses.
Also according to court documents, defendant Clark traveled with Pitcher to various locations in Southern Oregon cashing counterfeit checks at businesses and banks. Clark was apprehended following a vehicle crash, but Pitcher eluded police on foot. Print logs from a laptop computer recovered from the vehicle revealed that out of 98 counterfeit checks, 37 checks were made payable to Clark. There were also other numerous counterfeit checks recovered from the vehicle made payable to Clark.
The other federally charged defendants, Shayna Campos, 23, and Nathan David Meyer, 29, are scheduled to be sentenced in the next few months. Cinnamon Danielle Duck, 23, is pending trial.
This case was investigated by the Medford Police Department, the Douglas County Sheriff’s office, Grants Pass Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Byron Chatfield.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
