Morgantown man accused of stealing relative's identity, forging $450K in checks
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (KDKA) - A Morgantown man was charged with stealing nearly half a million dollars by forging checks.
Jaynesh Umesh Patel was indicted Tuesday on charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced.
Prosecutors said Patel used a relative's identity to create fake bank accounts and forged about $450,000 worth of checks to be deposited.
Patel started the scheme in June 2019 and continued until October of this year, prosecutors said.
"Sadly, those who engage in white-collar crime are often related to their victims, and that is the case here," said Ihlenfeld in a press release. "We will continue to make sure offenders are held to account and do everything within our power to recover the amount lost."
Patel faces up to 30 years of incarceration and a fine of up to $1 million for each of the three counts of bank fraud and faces up to two years of incarceration for each of the two counts of aggravated identity theft.