A Lynchburg couple pleaded guilty Thursday to participating in a bank fraud scheme that bilked a dozen banks and businesses out of more than $40,000.
Cassandra Tucker, 29, and Robert Joseph Tucker Jr., 20, both of Waterlick Road, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg to one count of bank fraud.
U.S. Secret Service Special Agent Thomas Fleming testified the couple opened a series of checking accounts at area banks, then made worthless deposits using the checks from the new accounts. The Tuckers then withdrew cash on instant credit provided by the banks and wrote bad checks to local merchants, Fleming testified.
In addition to protecting politicians and dignitaries, the Secret Service is charged with investigating crimes involving the nation’s financial system.
Reading from a written statement Robert Tucker provided during a February interview, he testified, “I finally found out we was robbing banks without a gun, but I got where I didn’t care. I had a drug habit.”
Fleming said the Tuckers told investigators they had cocaine habits that fueled the ongoing scam.
In her statement, Cassandra Tucker said she thought she owed the banks between $25,000 and $30,000.
Fleming said the Tuckers’ bank fraud caused at least a $33,270 loss to the banks and about $9,000 to local merchants. He testified Cassandra Tucker started scamming banks again in July, even after admitting her crimes to a federal agent, so the total loss may be higher.
When she was arrested in August, he found several bad checks in her purse signed and dated for that day, he testified.
Both plea agreements called for 10 additional counts of bank fraud against each of the Tuckers to be dismissed when they are sentenced. The agreements also called for the potential sentencing ranges to be increased because more than 10 institutions were involved.
Cassandra Tucker’s agreement called for her potential sentencing range to be increased even more because the amount of fraud was more than $30,000.
Robert Tucker’s agreement called for him to be given credit as a minimal participant. His lawyer, Fay Spence, also said she may argue he has less responsibility because he didn’t know what was happening until late in the life of the scam.
“I kept on telling him that I was getting money from my grandmother passing away and nothing was ever told different by me to him,” Cassandra Tucker wrote in a statement to investigators. When she couldn’t open any more accounts, she wrote, she brought her husband into the scheme.
In his statement, Robert Tucker estimated he was responsible for about $10,000 of the total scam.
Both face a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a fine of $1 million. Spence said prosecutors plan to seek about $43,900 in restitution.
Robert Tucker is free on a $20,000 unsecured bond. Cassandra Tucker is housed at the Blue Ridge Regional Jail. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 23.
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