LOS ANGELES
Federal agents arrested a man for bank fraud where Wells Fargo Bank employees stole customers account information, officials said.
Other conspirators used the information to impersonate customers and steal money from accounts, officials said.
The fraudulent transactions were made at bank branches across Southern California and in other states, including Minnesota and Nevada.
Ronald Reed, of Inglewood, is among eight defendants who were charged in two indictments returned by a federal grand jury last week, 0ffcials said.
Three of the defendants have not yet been identified.
Reed was arrested Monday and two former bank employees surrendered to federal authorities Thursday, authorities said.
The indictments charge Reed, four former bank employees and the three unknown individuals in a scheme that caused Wells Fargo to suffer losses of approximately $1.4 million.
The scheme detailed in the indictments alleges the following:
- Reed recruited four bank employees in 2013 and 2014, asked them to access the bank’s computer records.
- He purchased personal identifying information belonging to bank customers, including dates of birth, account numbers, driver’s license numbers and social security numbers.
- With this information, the currently unidentified “runners” used fake IDs to impersonate bank customers and made substantial cash withdrawals from the customers’ accounts.
- In some cases, the runners also used the customer’s account to deposit worthless checks and receive cash back.
The defendants charged in the indictments are:
- Ronald Reed, also known as “Disco Ronnie,” 69
- Michael Hester, 35, of Los Angeles, a former Wells Fargo employee
- Jamal Hurley, 39, of Garden Grove, a former Wells Fargo employee
- Garrick James Davis-Looney, 22, of Torrance, a former Wells Fargo employee
- Jonathan Lawrence Cobbs, Jr., 35, of Los Angeles, a former Wells Fargo employee
- three defendants identified in the indictment as FNU LNU (First Name Unknown, Last Name Unknown).
The defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
The FBI and the U.S. Secret Service.