Fort Lauderdale, FL - Police in South Florida have arrested two individuals over the weekend after they were federally indicted on bank fraud charges totaling more than $800,000.
Two individuals, Lacretia Roquel Pratt, 50, and Bennie Ware III, 54, were booked into the Broward County Jail over the weekend following their federal indictment on bank fraud charges.
Authorities allege the pair spearheaded a complex scheme netting nearly $800,000 through forged documents and stolen identities.
A federal grand jury charged Pratt and Ware with orchestrating a multi-layered auto loan scam involving three companies registered in Jacksonville, Davie, and Miami.
According to court documents, the duo allegedly exploited the identities of multiple victims to gain access to their financial information and secure fraudulent loans.
The indictment details allege that in 2017, Ware and Pratt, along with unnamed co-conspirators, manipulated Florida corporate records to add one victim as a managing member of Ride Now, a Jacksonville-based company.
Under this false pretext, they opened a Bank of America checking account for Ride Now, effectively granting access to the victim's finances.
Prosecutors further claim that Ware, Pratt, and their accomplices filed fraudulent loan applications using the identities of five additional unsuspecting individuals.
These applications falsely portrayed the victims as car buyers from Ride Now and Ben Auto, another company implicated in the scheme.
The intricate web of deceit allegedly netted millions in fraudulent funds.
Credit unions, deceived by the fabricated applications, issued cashier's checks for the purported loans.
Furthermore, the indictment states that Ware, Pratt, and their associates generated "forged or counterfeit checks" in the names of three fictitious corporations, further enriching themselves through this elaborate network of lies.
The scheme ultimately unraveled, leading to federal charges against Pratt and Ware.
Each now faces one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and eight counts of bank fraud.
Both individuals are currently being held in separate Broward County jail facilities awaiting further legal proceedings.