'Ringleader' in identity theft scheme gets 16 years

RANCHO CUCAMONGA -- A man described by prosecutors as the "ringleader" in a group of Claremont-based identity thieves has been sentenced to more than 16 years in state prison.

Hector Esquivel, 38, was found guilty by a jury in June of 26 felonies related to the scheme, which involved cashing fraudulent checks at at least 15 businesses over two months.

He was sentenced Thursday in West Valley Superior Court to 16 years, four months in prison by Judge Christopher Marshall.

According to prosecutors, Esquivel and his co-conspirators used a copy a San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department check to create fraudulent checks made out to people whose identities they had stolen, said Deputy District Attorney Mike Abney.

"We found on his computer a legitimate Sheriff's Department check scanned on his computer," Abney said.

Esquivel's co-conspirators would then take the checks -- which ranged in amount from less then $400 to nearly $2,000 -- and cash them at liquor stores, check-cashing businesses and markets using ID cards stolen from people named on the checks.

Sheriff's Department checks are typically issued to inmates when they are released from jail if they had cash with them when they were arrested, Abney said.

Some of the shopkeepers who were victimized by Esquivel and his co-conspirators told authorities they didn't question the legitimacy of the checks because of the sheriff's logo.

"They didn't think anyone would have the nerve to use a fake Sheriff's Department check," Abney said.

The group cashed about $12,000 in checks at 15 businesses, and authorities suspect they cashed numerous additional fraudulent checks before their scheme was uncovered in January.

Prosecutors have brought criminal charges against eight people associated with the identity-theft ring, which was based in a house in the 200 block of East Arrow Highway in Claremont.

According to authorities, Esquivel attempted to insulate himself from suspicion by enlisting other people to cash the fraudulent checks.

Four defendants took plea bargains in exchange for prison terms ranging in length from 16 months to five years and four months, Abney said.

Two defendants took plea bargains that included a year in jail, and a final defendant's case has yet to be resolved, Abney said.

When sheriff's deputies served a search warrant at the Claremont home where Esquivel and some of the other co-conspirators were living, they found "items of identification" belonging to 10 apparent identity-theft victims, according to a summary of the case contained in a Probation Department report.

Sheriff's deputies also found a receipt in the home for a Montclair storage unit.

When they searched the unit, deputies found computer software used for making checks as well as business checks and blank check stock, according to the Probation Department report.

Prior to his arrest in March, Esquivel was a manager at VP Auto Body in La Verne, where he had worked for 14 years, he told authorities.