BOSTON, Dec. 15, 2014—Eight defendants face arraignment this week for their alleged roles in a nationwide scam that drained hundreds of thousands of dollars from the victims’ home equity lines of credit, just weeks after a Cambridge woman was ordered to reimburse a California bank for funds stolen in a similar scheme, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

RICARDO PETERSON (D.O.B. 8/22/80) of Roxbury, MIGUEL BALAN (D.O.B. 4/4/93) of Revere, JOHN BRISTOW (D.O.B. 3/13/73) of Dedham, MOLIJAH BUREY (D.O.B. 11/14/91) of Dorchester, TROY FERNANDEZ (D.O.B. 8/7/89) of Dorchester are expected to be arraigned tomorrow in Suffolk Superior Court on charges of receiving stolen goods over $250, larceny over $250, conspiracy, and money laundering.

Three additional defendants charged in connection with the scheme – CHERYDA GRANT (D.O.B. 1/1/70) of Hyde Park, DAVID JOHNSON (D.O.B. 2/17/82) of Stoughton, and JOHN JOHNSON (D.O.B. 7/25/79) of Norwood – face arraignment Thursday on identical charges. 

A ninth co-defendant, DARIES HURT (D.O.B. 11/30/89) of Jamaica Plain, was arraigned last month on the same charges as well as three unrelated cases charging him with home invasion and drug offenses. Suffolk Superior Court Clerk Magistrate Gary Wilson ordered that he be held on $100,000 bail.

The indictments against each defendant were returned Nov. 6.

Each of the defendants is accused of taking part in a widespread conspiracy to steal approximately $700,000 from the home equity line of credit accounts held by five different victims between November 2012 and February 2013.

In each instance, a co-conspirator contacted the victim’s home phone service provider and properly answered security questions in order to pose as the account holder and have the victim’s phone number transferred to an outside line.

The individual then contacted the bank or credit union where the victim held a home equity line of credit and requested large transfers from the victim’s account into a bank account opened in the Boston area by one of the defendants.  Calls placed by the bank to the victim’s home phone number were rerouted to the co-conspirator, who was able to pose as the account holder in order to authorize the fraudulent transfers.  In some cases, the caller would request multiple transfers from the same line of credit; each transfer request ranged from $56,000 to $95,000.

Prosecutors allege that Peterson, Balan, and Bristow each received transfers from the same victim’s account during December 2012.  Bristow went on to transfer a large portion of the fraudulently received funds to accounts held by Burey and Fernandez.  Balan, Bristow, Burey, and Fernandez each opened bank accounts days before receiving the fraudulent transfers; Peterson opened his bank account just over a month prior to receiving the transfer and had a negative account balance at the time funds were transferred into his account.   After receiving the transferred funds, each of the defendants was captured in surveillance images making a series of large withdrawals at Boston-area banks until the newly-acquired balance was fully depleted.

Similar transfers were made from an Indiana-based bank to Hunt in November 2012, from a Wisconsin-based credit union to John Johnson and from an Indiana credit union to Grant in December 2012, and to David Johnson from a California lending institution in February 2013.  Grant and David Johnson each opened bank accounts in the days leading up to the transfers; John Johnson and Hunt held bank accounts prior to that time.  Their accounts were also drained through a series of cash withdrawals within days of receiving the transferred funds, prosecutors said.

All of the accounts used to receive funds were opened using the defendants’ true identities.

The arraignments come less than two weeks after BIANCA BALKISHUN (D.O.B. 10/4/90) of Cambridge pleaded guilty to charges of larceny over $250 and receiving stolen property for her role in a similar scheme.

During the Dec. 12 proceeding, Brighton Municipal Court Judge David Donnelly sentenced Balkishun to five years of probation, during which time she must pay back $75,000 to a California credit union after she received fraudulent wire transfers from a home equity line of credit held at the lender. If Balkishun fails to pay full restitution during her probation, she could face up to 2.5 years in the house of correction, prosecutors said.

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Nicholas Walsh, chief of the DA’s Special Prosecutions Unit, would have presented evidence and testimony to prove that Balkishun two fraudulent wire transfers from a home equity line of credit account held at California credit union into her newly opened Bank of America account on Feb. 7, 2013, 1nd Feb. 11, 2013.  The transfers totaled $136,000.

Balkshun went on to make three large cash withdrawals at different Bank of America branches around the city, obtaining a total of $75,000 before Bank of America blocked further withdrawals.  When contacted by the bank’s investigative division, she claimed that the California man whose account was used to transfer the funds to Balkishun had given her the money so she could open a saloon, the evidence would have shown.  Balkishun was arraigned April 8, 2014.

The cases were investigated by Suffolk prosecutors alongside members of the Boston Police Department, FBI, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Secret Service.  The identities of other individuals involved in the scheme remain under investigation.

The upcoming arraignments will take place in the Magistrate’s Session in Suffolk Superior Court.  Hurt is represented by Seamus O’Kelley and will return to court tomorrow.  Balkishun was represented by Steven M. Key and will appear in Brighton Municipal Court March 30 for a hearing regarding restitution.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.