Mail Fraud, Money Laundering Charges Filed Against Couple

Assistant U.S. Atty. Stephen Wolfe filed additional charges Monday against Daniel and Susie Hernandez, the Mission Viejo couple accused of bilking a Santa Fe Springs precious-metals firm of nearly $8 million.

The new court documents charge the couple with five counts each of mail fraud and money laundering; they already face a conspiracy charge filed Friday in federal court. The face a maximum of more than 100 years in prison, Wolfe said.

Daniel Hernandez told The Times last week he is hoping to arrange for a lighter sentence by pleading guilty and providing government investigators with information about other alleged federal crimes committed at the company.

Wolfe declined to comment on whether there will be a plea bargain or if others are being investigated in connection with the case.

The Hernandezes’ attorney, Eugene Albertini, refused to comment Monday.

The papers filed Monday outline the scheme by which the couple allegedly took $7.8 million from PGP Industries Inc., the firm where Daniel Hernandez worked for 12 years before being fired in December. Wolfe said that Daniel Hernandez created dummy transactions on PGP’s books, and then transferred checks from PGP to bank accounts Susie Hernandez had set up and controlled in the name of PGP clients.

Only five transactions are named in the complaint. They occurred between July 15 and Sept. 28, 1992, and involved $600,000. Though IRS investigators found evidence of 109 similar transactions, Wolfe does not plan to file any more charges against the Hernandezes.

“I don’t have time to file 200 counts,” he said Monday. “It’s a complete waste of resources. The government is never interested in beating a dead horse.”