DISTRICT ATTORNEY ZUGIBE: TWO ROCKLAND COUNTY MEN INDICTED IN FRAUD SCHEME AGAINST BANKS WITH ALTERED MONEY ORDERS

DA’S PRESS RELEASE

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas P. Zugibe, together with Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent in Charge of ICE- Homeland Security Investigations in New York, today announced the indictments of Lawrence Lazard (DOB 07/06/87) of 229 Route 202, Apt. 3N, Haverstraw, New York and Fabrice Stinfil (DOB 08/31/95) of 5 George St., Apt.9, Spring Valley, New York for their roles in the theft of approximately $250,000 from multiple banks and their customers by depositing dozens of altered U.S. Postal Service money orders. The defendants are charged in a Rockland County Court indictment with two counts of Grand Larceny in the Third Degree and 25 counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the First Degree (Lazard) and Grand Larceny in the Fourth Degree and Criminal Facilitation in the Fourth Degree (Stinfil).

The charges arise from a joint investigation by the Rockland County District Attorney’s Office’s Special Investigations Unit, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

“These defendants allegedly played a role in a two-state crime spree that resulted in the hundreds of thousands of dollars in fraud,” said District Attorney Zugibe. “With gang members now using old-fashioned deception to cheat banks, law enforcement agencies at all levels are coming together to fight back. The Rockland County District Attorney’s Office will continue to aggressively prosecute con artists and bring them to justice.”

“Lazard is alleged to be a gang member and major player of a group that fraudulently altered money orders and used stolen checks to the tune of over $300,000 dollars” said Angel M. Melendez, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New York. “This crime spree has affected 14 different financial institutions in and around Rockland County and shows that street criminals are getting creative on how they steal money. HSI is up to the challenge to uncover these schemes and put those that perpetrate them, in jail where they belong. Stinfil is alleged to have facilitated Lazard to commit part of the overall crime, and to have also stolen money from a bank based upon this fraud.”