Bakersfield Man Pleads Guilty To Illegal Cash Deposits

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — Miguel Antonio Ruiz Jaramillo, 66, of Bakersfield, pleaded guilty today to one count of aggravated structuring of cash transactions, U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.

According to the plea agreement, Jaramillo operated a gardening service. He issued invoices that billed a client $10,000 or less. The client then would write checks for the amount on the invoice. From January 2010 through July 2012, Jaramillo cashed more than 50 checks for $10,000 or less at Valley Republic Bank in Bakersfield, totaling more than $420,000. Jaramillo had the checks cashed in this manner to prevent, or attempt to prevent, the bank from filing a Currency Transaction Report (CTR) on those transactions. He did not want a CTR filed because for the years 2010 and 2011, he did not declare the structured cash transactions as income on his federal tax returns.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Central California Financial Crimes Task Force (CCFCTF), which is dedicated to investigating and prosecuting money laundering and Bank Secrecy Act crimes in the San Joaquin Valley. CCFCTF is led by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, with participation from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Bakersfield Police Department, and the Fresno Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Grant B. Rabenn and Patrick Delahunty are prosecuting the case.

Jaramillo is scheduled to be sentenced on April 7, 2014. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of 10 years in prison and a $500,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.