The Region - News from July 8, 1986

A woman accused of masterminding several multimillion-dollar fraud schemes and who was arrested when undercover FBI agents lured her back to Southern California from Guatemala was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Naomi Jerez, 42, also was placed on five years’ probation by U.S. District Judge Stephen Wilson and ordered to repay Bank of America $333,000 lost in one scheme earlier this year involving counterfeit checks drawn on bank corporate accounts. Although $10.2 million in counterfeit checks were negotiated through early March, FBI agents were tipped by an informant and held the loss to $333,000, Assistant U.S. Atty. James Berliner said. Jerez, her father and two Central American men pleaded guilty four weeks ago to conspiracy and fraud charges in the phony check case.