U.S. Attorney Timothy Duax | U.S. Department of Justice
A woman from Waterloo, Iowa, has been sentenced to more than two years in federal prison for her involvement in a check fraud scheme that resulted in nearly $250,000 being stolen from three financial institutions. Angela Celina Hernandez, also known as Angela Celina Sermeno, aged 40, pleaded guilty on May 31, 2024, to one count of bank fraud.
Hernandez admitted to being the sole signatory on a checking account for a roofing company at a credit union in Dubuque. Starting in January 2020, she repeatedly redeposited previously cleared checks from a Wisconsin contractor to falsely inflate the account balance temporarily. This allowed her to make over $150,000 in rapid transfers and withdrawals based on the inflated balance. In July 2021, Hernandez issued bad checks at another credit union causing losses exceeding $75,000. Further fraudulent activity occurred in February 2022 when she passed more bad checks at a third institution resulting in an additional loss of $12,000.
United States District Court Chief Judge C.J. Williams sentenced Hernandez to 27 months' imprisonment and ordered her to pay restitution amounting to $248,005.28 to the affected financial institutions. She will also serve a five-year term of supervised release following her prison sentence. The federal system does not allow parole.
Currently released on bond, Hernandez is required to surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on an unspecified date before being transported to a federal facility.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Timothy L. Vavricek and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
