On November 26, 2019, in the Western District of Missouri, Frances Wright was sentenced for her role in a scheme involving the theft of U.S. Treasury tax refund checks. In July 2019, Wright pled guilty to bank fraud.

According to the court documents, eight individuals were charged in a scheme involving the theft of U.S. Treasury tax refund checks. Branden Belvin, Mistie Smith, Dante Chestnut, Susannah Lesaisaea, Cassandra Franklin, Sharieff Sylvester, Joseph Hooks, and Frances Wright were indicted on May 2, 2018, for conspiracy, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Belvin and Smith, both residents of California, obtained approximately 99 U.S. Treasury checks that had been stolen from the U.S. Postal Service mail stream. The checks had been issued for tax refunds and were printed and mailed in Kansas City, Missouri. Belvin and Smith recruited the codefendants to participate in the scheme by negotiating the stolen checks. They created or obtained fraudulent identification documents, such as driver's licenses, in order to deposit the stolen refund checks.

Between March 2016 and May 2016, the coconspirators traveled through Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Missouri negotiating the stolen refund checks at various branches of Academy Bank, a financial institution headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri. The defendants used false identification documents in order to open bank accounts in the names depicted on the checks. They then deposited the checks into the newly created accounts and subsequently withdrew the majority of the money.

In April 2016, Denver, Colorado, police officers responded to an incident involving Belvin and Smith at a hotel. Officers recovered an envelope containing 19 counterfeit California driver's licenses. The names on the counterfeit driver's licenses matched the names of victims whose tax refund checks had been stolen and cashed, but most of the licenses pictured the same six individuals, coconspirators Chestnut, Sylvester, Franklin, Lesaisaea, Wright, and another individual. The scheme resulted in the fraudulent negotiation of approximately 99 checks representing a total financial loss of approximately $447,517. The aggregate amount of stolen checks presented by Wright totaled $24,970.

Wright was sentenced to five years' probation for committing bank fraud and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $24,970.

Source:  The facts in this case narrative come from the following publicly available documents: W.D. Mo. Indict. filed May 2, 2018; W.D. Mo. Plea Agr. filed July 29, 2019; W.D. Mo. Judgment filed Nov 26, 2019.