Man to be sentenced for hiring homeless to cash stolen checks

A man who recruited homeless people to cash stolen checks -- including five he drove from a Virginia Beach shelter to Richmond -- will be sentenced in federal court today.

Myron Kylen Nelson, 25, of Charlotte, N.C., is facing up to 30 years in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud in a scheme in which homeless people were paid to cash the stolen and altered checks worth a total of $65,071.32.

In total, the scheme attempted to fraudulently pass $121,713.81 worth of stolen, legitimate checks.

According to a statement of facts signed by Nelson, he took stolen checks from May to December 2006 and altered them so that homeless people he recruited could cash them using their own identification.

"He presumably selected the individuals based on their appearance, ability to communicate and, most importantly, whether he/she possessed a valid identification card," the government said in court filings.

"While visiting Virginia Beach, the defendant discovered a large pool of potential check-cashers from the homeless population . . . and thereafter successfully recruited at least five homeless men from the Lighthouse Shelter in Virginia Beach," prosecutors said.

Nelson recruited them under the guise of hiring them for legitimate work and then drove them to banks in the Richmond area and elsewhere where the checks were cashed, officials said.

Contact Frank Green at (804) 649-6340 or .