Tehachapi man sentenced for bank fraud and identity theft

FRESNO, California — Blake Wayne Reed, 28, of Tehachapi, was sentenced to four years and four months in prison and ordered to pay $48,052 in restitution for committing bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, between August 2020 and April 2021, Reed obtained hundreds of pieces of stolen mail that included at least 130 checks and approximately 30 debit or credit cards belonging to other individuals and businesses. Reed then forged signatures on the stolen checks and used the stolen debit cards to deposit the checks into victims’ bank accounts. He subsequently made cash withdrawals from the accounts. Reed’s scheme resulted in more than $40,000 in fraudulent transactions on the victims’ accounts.

This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Brittany M. Gunter and Joseph D. Barton prosecuted the case.