On June 8, 2021, in the Central District of California, Angelo Phoenix was sentenced for bank fraud. On June 29, 2020, Phoenix pled guilty for his role in a scheme involving stolen United States Treasury tax refund checks. He was initially charged in a nine-count indictment issued on December 6, 2019.

According to the court documents, during an unknown period ending in November 2019, Phoenix executed a scheme to defraud several banks. First, Phoenix obtained stolen Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax refund checks issued to at least 36 victims. He then opened bank accounts in the names of some of the victims, without their knowledge or permission, and deposited the stolen checks. Phoenix also altered some of the stolen checks so they appeared to list himself as a payee and then deposited those checks into bank accounts in his own name. The overall scheme had an intended loss (that is, the amount of pecuniary harm Phoenix intended to inflict) of more than $150,000.

Phoenix was sentenced to one day, with credit for time served, and supervised release for four years' under the condition that 14 months are in a home detention program. He was ordered to pay $147,432.85 in restitution and a $100 assessment.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: C.D. Cal., J., filed June 8, 2021; C.D. Cal., Change of Plea, filed June 29, 2020; C. D. Cal., Indict., filed December 06, 2019; and C. D. Cal., Plea Agr., filed May 20, 2020.