SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) — A 28-year-old Contra Costa County woman was sentenced Monday to four years and nine months in federal prison for bank fraud and being in possession of trash bags filled with stolen U.S. mail.
U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert said Desiree Brianna Bello (also known as) Desiree Sanchez was guilty of stealing hundreds of pieces of mail in a series of thefts across Northern California.
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According to court documents, between April and August 2020, Bello and co-defendant Richard Beldon Waters III, took part in a scheme involved stealing mail from residential mailboxes and harvesting bankcards, identification documents, financial information, checks and personally identifying information.
On several occasions, Bello used stolen identification documents, stolen checks and bank cards to purchase and lease vehicles from car dealerships.
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On June 25, 2020, Bello entered a Hyundai dealership in Stockton to lease a new Genesis G80 using a stolen identity. She made an initial $7,000 payment with a check in the victim’s name and also submitted a lease application using the victim’s name, date of birth, California Driver’s License number and Social Security Number.
After the dealership approved the application, Bello was able to drive the new G80, valued at approximately $55,490, off the lot.
On two separate occasions in May 2020, Bello knowingly possessed stolen mail. On May 11, 2020, she was arrested in Folsom where she possessed over 300 pieces of stolen mail. Similarly, on May 18, 2020, she was arrested in El Dorado Hills where she possessed five large trash bags of mail that she and her co-schemers had just stolen minutes earlier from a residential complex.
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Waters pleaded guilty to similar charges in September 2021. He was scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller on May 23.
Source: sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com.