FRESNO, Calif. (FOX26) — Five Fresno residents have pleaded guilty in a yearlong bank fraud scheme that involved stolen checks worth more than $1 million, federal prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Eric Grant announced the guilty pleas, which include Zorian Temple, 25, who pleaded guilty to bank fraud today. Davonntae Barfield, 31, Zion Brewer, 40, and Nyric Hinton, 28, pleaded guilty on Aug. 17, 2026. Harry Cooper Neal, 30, pleaded guilty on Aug. 31, 2026.
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According to court records, the scheme ran from 2022 to 2023 and began with Brewer, a U.S. Postal Service employee, stealing checks from the mail and giving them to the other defendants. Prosecutors said the others then recruited bank account holders, or used their own bank accounts, to deposit the stolen checks and withdraw the proceeds.
The…
PAYROLL & HR CONTROLS (PREVENTING “GHOST” SCHEMES)
Payroll fraud is often the hardest to detect because it “looks” like a normal business expense.
- Segregation of Duties (SoD): The person who adds new employees to the system must not be the same person who approves the monthly pay run.
- Mandatory Vacation Policy: Require all financial and HR staff to take 5–10 consecutive days of leave annually. Fraud often surfaces when the perpetrator isn’t there to “hide” the trail.
- Ghost Employee Audit: Perform a quarterly “Headcount Reconciliation” where managers must physically verify every name on their payroll list exists.
- Self-Pay Blocking: Ensure the payroll software has a hard-coded block preventing administrators from editing their own salary or bank details.