JUNE 4, 2007
EWING MAN INDICTED AS
“LEADER OF ORGANIZED CRIME”
TRENTON — A Ewing man whose massive counterfeit check scheme netted more than $33,000 from area banks was arrested on Friday, Mercer County Prosecutor Joseph L. Bocchini Jr. announced today.
Corey Tucker, 32, whose last known address is Clover Avenue in Ewing, was charged in a previously sealed indictment and arrested on Friday, June 1, at approximately 11 a.m. at a barber shop on Brunswick Avenue by members of the New York/New Jersey Regional Fugitive Task Force.
The 57-count indictment was handed up by a Mercer County grand jury on March 28, 2007, and charges Tucker with one count of leader of organized crime, 31 counts of forgery, 20 counts of theft by deception, four counts of identity theft and one count of trafficking in personal identifying information.
The leader of organized crime charge (N.J.S. 2C:5-2g) is a second-degree offense and carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $150,000 fine. If convicted of all counts, Tucker faces more than 50 years in prison.
It is alleged specifically in the indictment that, between December 6, 2004 and November 6, 2006, Tucker conspired with others “as an organizer, supervisor, manager or financier to commit a continuing series of thefts, forgeries and fraudulent practices that constituted a pattern of racketeering activities.”
The investigation revealed that Tucker was creating counterfeit checks using information from various businesses in Mercer County. He made the fraudulent checks payable to more than 30 “check cashers” and instructed them to cash the checks at the bank where the business account was held. The check cashers used their legal names, addresses and identification so they could later claim upon arrest that their identities were stolen. The check cashers were given a percentage of the check amount as payment.
In total, Bank of America, Commerce Bank, Hopewell Valley Community Bank, Roma Bank, Sovereign Bank, Third Federal Savings Bank and Yardville National Bank were defrauded of more than $33,000. The money was drawn on 10 business accounts and several individual accounts throughout Ewing, Hamilton, Hopewell, Lawrence, Trenton, Washington, West Windsor and Princeton Borough.
“We believe that $33,000 is only a fraction of the total theft attributed to the counterfeit check ring,” Bocchini stated. “Each and every account holder at these banks is a victim in this case because although the banks are reimbursing the actual businesses, the account holders bear the actual cost.”
The prosecutor’s Economic Crime Unit was alerted to Tucker by the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office in December 2004 when it appeared that the majority of criminal activity occurred in Mercer County. As more arrests were occurring of the check cashers, it was revealed that Tucker’s operation was spreading to other counties and states.
Forty-four others, including three bank tellers, have been charged and prosecuted in relation to the Tucker case.
Mercer County Superior Court Judge Charles A. Delehey set bail in the amount of $1 million cash subject to a source hearing. Tucker is being held at the Mercer County Correction Center in Hopewell Township and is scheduled to be arraigned in Mercer County Superior Court on June 18.
Subsequent to his arrest, Tucker’s 2003 Jaguar was seized pending forfeiture proceedings.
There are warrants for Tucker’s arrest in Delaware, Georgia, New York and Pennsylvania for similar crimes.
Bocchini credited his office’s Economic Crime Unit and the United States Secret Service with the investigation leading to the indictment. Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie, chief of the Economic Crime Unit, presented the case to the grand jury.
An indictment is merely an accusation. All persons charged are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.