United States Attorney
Northern District of Texas

1100 Commerce St., 3rd Fl.
Dallas, Texas 75242-1699

Telephone (214) 659-8600
Fax (214) 767-0978

PAIR CONVICTED OF RUNNING CONSPIRACY TO
CASH COUNTERFEIT PAYROLL CHECKS
IN DALLAS/FORT WORTH AREA

A federal jury in Dallas convicted Juan Manuel Pena and his sister, Maria D. Pena, on both counts of an indictment charging each with conspiracy to utter and possess counterfeit obligations of an organization and possessing counterfeit securities, announced United States Attorney Richard B. Roper. The jury deliberated less than one hour following the two-day trial that began Monday in federal court in Dallas before the Honorable Barefoot Sanders, United States Senior District Judge. Both defendants, who have been on bond since their arrests in April on these charges, will be sentenced on November 30, 2006.

The government presented evidence during trial that from December 2005 through mid-January, 2006, Houston residents, Juan Manuel Pena, 26, and Maria D. Pena, 28, along with their brother, Rene Octavio Pena-Mejia, 34, and his wife, Elizabeth Simon-Lopez, 24, both of Dallas, ran a scheme in which they purchased legitimate payroll checks from random employees of businesses in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and then used them to make counterfeit payroll checks. Both Rene Octavio Pena-Majia and Elizabeth Simon-Lopez pled guilty prior to trial for their role in the conspiracy and to improper entry into the U.S. by an alien. Each is to be sentenced next month.

The defendants mailed the authentic payroll checks, along with a list of names, to an address in Compton, California, where counterfeit payroll checks were produced and drawn on the organization’s account information listing the names from the list as payees. A co-conspirator mailed the counterfeit payroll checks from California back to the defendants at their home on Glenfield Avenue in Dallas, where the counterfeit checks were then distributed to various individuals (check cashers) who then cashed the checks at various check-cashing establishments. The check cashers were paid with part of the proceeds from the cashed checks and the four defendants kept the remaining balance, which was later sent, in part, to another co-conspirator in Mexico.

According to the government, the loss to the victims in this crime, the local convenience store owners who were not reimbursed for having cashed the bad checks, exceeded $200,000.00.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Lisa J. Miller and Juan Carlos Rodriguez.

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