Charges were filed Nov. 30 against four people who allegedly defrauded the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office.
Richard Bell, Robert Rogers, and Jackiem Wright and Reginald Berry were each charged with one count of wire fraud; Bell is additionally charged with willfully filing a false federal income tax return.
Bell was employed in the Accounting Department of the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office. He allegedly wrote fraudulent checks drawn on bank accounts of the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office to unauthorized individuals and companies between 2007 and 2010. He forwarded over $400,000 of those checks to Rogers.
Rogers cashed the checks made payable to himself and forwarded the other checks to other individuals to cash or deposit. He forwarded over $147,000 in checks made payable to one company to Wright and Berry.
Wright and Berry deposited those checks into the company bank account, and withdrew or attempted to withdraw the proceeds. Bell, Rogers, Wright and Berry shared the proceeds from their fraudulent checks.
Bell carried out the scheme by removing the checks that the person submitted to the Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office for the remaining 90 percent before the checks were deposited. For this, Bell allegedly charged and received a fee from the person.