Miami, Florida
A Palm Beach resident altered and cashed personal checks, which victims reported as stolen from U.S. Postal Service drop boxes, officials stated.
Danny Seruto Perez was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison on bank fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, according to officials.
On December 30, 2021, Danny Seruto Perez pled guilty to the fraud and identity theft offenses.
According to court documents, starting in or around July 2018, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) was alerted to a string of mail thefts from mail collection boxes after receiving complaints from multiple victims, officials stated.
The victims stated that checks they had mailed out (including to pay their bills) never reached their intended recipients.
Through its investigation, USPIS learned that many of the victims’ stolen checks had been visibly altered (or “washed”) and re-written with Seruto Perez’s name as the payment recipient, and for larger payments than the original amounts written by the victims.
Further investigation revealed that Seruto Perez fraudulently deposited these “washed” and stolen checks into his own bank account and into accounts held by his friends.
Seruto Perez’s bank fraud scheme involved stolen checks from approximately 15 victims, totaling approximately $36,700 in stolen funds—all of which the court has now ordered him to pay back as restitution to the victims.
U.S. Postal Inspection Service investigated the case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lacee Monk and Eduardo Gardea Jr. Assistant United States Attorney Emily Stone is handling forfeiture, according to authorities.