Man Accused of Defrauding Bank

A federal indictment unsealed this week accuses a Fillmore man of defrauding a local bank of $209,000 six years ago and then blowing most of it in Las Vegas, officials said Wednesday.

Vernon Marquez, 52, was charged Tuesday with 12 counts of bank fraud, Assistant U. S. Atty. General Peter S. Spivack said. The indictment alleges that Marquez used personal checks drawn from an account at Santa Barbara Savings to purchase 12 cashier’s checks totaling $209,000 from the Fillmore branch of Security Pacific Bank in late July 1990, Spivack said.

The indictment further alleges that Marquez, a long-standing customer at Security Pacific, cashed seven of the cashier’s checks, totaling $120,000, at the casino cage at Caesar’s Palace between July 28 and Aug. 1, 1990. On Aug. 2, 1990, Marquez told Security Pacific that he lost the seven checks and ordered bank officials to stop payment, the indictment alleges.

Also, on Aug. 2, 1990, Marquez closed his account at Santa Barbara Savings and all of the cashier’s checks bounced, the indictment alleges.

Investigators do not know where the other $89,000 went, Spivack said. For that matter, he added, they do not know where Marquez now resides.

Spivack declined to comment on why it took six years to get an indictment. He said the federal statute of limitations for bank fraud is 10 years.

Marquez could not be reached for comment. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $1-million fine if found guilty of all the charges.