A prolific fraud artist from North Vancouver has been handed a federal sentence of two years in jail after he was caught opening more than a dozen bank accounts in other people's names, depositing fake cheques, then withdrawing thousands of dollars of cash from them.
Dennis Ventura Lucero, 33, was sent to prison by Judge David St. Pierre of Vancouver provincial court May 16 after pleading guilty to a charge of identity theft.
Lucero's venture into creative personal finance happened between May 30, 212 and April 9, 2013. Police said Lucero opened 14 bank accounts under false identities at four different banks, including ones in North Vancouver, West Vancouver and Vancouver. The cunning con man then deposited stolen or forged cheques into the accounts. Before the cheques could bounce, Lucero withdrew $21,000.
A joint police investigation led to Lucero's arrest on April 8, 2013, when he was found to be carrying additional forged identification.
Lucero already has a lengthy history of fraud-related offences. In March 2010, he was handed a jail sentence of just under two years for fraud of over $5,000. In October 2008, he got a 13-month sentence for five counts of fraud. In 2007 he was put on nine months probation for using a forged document.
