Evergreen Reporter

Gerald Duran, a 49-year-old man from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, was sentenced on July 18, 2024, to 45 months in prison for bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Following his prison term, he will serve three years of supervised release and has been ordered to pay $4,500 in restitution.

Duran was apprehended on December 29, 2023, by Springfield Police Officers at a branch of a national bank in Springfield while attempting to cash a fraudulently obtained cashier’s check. According to court documents and information presented during the sentencing hearing before Senior U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough, Duran had earlier that day secured two cashier’s checks made out to different individuals and cash totaling $13,500 from another branch of the same bank. He acquired the funds by providing false identity documents and posing as an account holder at the bank. Additionally, Duran correctly answered personal security questions and provided the social security number of the account holder.

Upon his arrest at the second branch location, Duran was found with identification cards for three separate victims. Each false identity document contained Duran’s picture along with the name and information of real individuals. He also faces pending charges for similar conduct in Lee County, Florida.

Duran has been in custody since his arrest and pleaded guilty on March 19, 2024.

The statutory penalties for bank fraud include up to thirty years in prison, up to five years of supervised release, and fines up to $1 million. For aggravated identity theft committed in relation to another felony, there is a mandatory sentence of 24 months consecutive to the underlying crime's sentence, up to one year of supervised release, and fines up to $250,000.

The case was investigated by the Springfield Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Springfield Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Sierra Senor-Moore represented the government in this prosecution.