Newark Man Sentenced To 36 Months For Gun Possession, Bank Fraud

Newark NJ

21 December, 2021

10:03 AM

Description

NEWARK, NJ —A Newark man was sentenced to 36 months in prison Monday after previously pleading guilty to firearm possession and bank fraud charges, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey announced. Tamir Duval, 23, was sentenced by Judge Susan D. Wigenton after he pleaded guilty to one count of illegal possession of a firearm by a previously convicted felon and for conspiring to defraud two banks of $250,000 using stolen credit cards and blank checks. Duval also was sentenced to five years of supervised release. According to court documents, on July 27, 2020, Duval unlawfully possessed a Taurus PT740 semi-automatic handgun loaded with seven hollow nose rounds of ammunition. The gun had been reported stolen in Georgia. Duval was not legally allowed to possess a gun at that time after he previously had been convicted in Essex County Superior Court of receiving stolen property, which is a felony under state law. Additionally, from 2018 through January 2020, Duval was part of a scheme to use stolen credit cards and checks to fraudulently make purchases and withdraw money from two banks, leaving the banks to bear the losses, court records revealed. The scheme involved stealing credit cards and blank checks from New Jersey postal facilities and using them to make unauthorized purchases at various retail stores and withdraw cash from automated teller machines (ATMs). According to records filed in the case, Duval and his conspirators used the stolen checks — which never reached their intended recipients— by altering the date, payee and amount on the checks. Then, they deposited the checks and fraudulently withdrew money at various ATMs from third-party account holders' accounts.