A former New Jersey resident and three others have been indicted in a $53 million check fraud scheme, according to the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Michael Pena, 26, formerly of Woodbridge; Harrington Delahoz, 46, of the Bronx, New York; Joshua Gutierrez, 30, of New York, New York; and Jayson Dorsey, 28, of New York, New York, were all charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft, officials said.
According to officials, Pena advertised stolen checks from the US Postal Service for sale on a messaging platform channel called ‘White House Vibez’ between April 2023 and October 2024.
According to police, the channel had hundreds of users who were instructed to transmit payment via a mobile payment app to accounts set up by Gutierrez and Delahoz using bogus IDs.
According to officials, personal information such as social security numbers and birth dates was occasionally listed for sale.
Pena and the others also deposited stolen checks worth hundreds of thousands of dollars at numerous institutions, according to investigators.
Authorities announced that they will remove the original information from the checks and reprint them with a different identity and amount.
Officials praised these actions on the “White House Vibez” channel, showcasing photographs of check deposit receipts and significant cash withdrawals.
Pena and Gutierrez were arrested on Tuesday, according to officials. Pena was apprehended in Florida, authorities said.
Delahoz and Dorsey are still at large, according to officials.
