Washington Man Sentenced to 60 Months for Bank Fraud Conspiracy and Obstruction of Justice

ALEXANDRIA, VA—Samuel Goines, 61, of Washington, D.C., was sentenced today to 60 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and obstruction of justice. Goines also was ordered to pay restitution and forfeiture in the amount of $539,187.36.

Dana J. Boente, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Valerie Parlave, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office; Kathy A. Michalko, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service’s Washington Field Office; and Earl L. Cook, Alexandria Chief of Police, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady.

Goines pleaded guilty on December 13, 2013. According to court documents, Goines and his co-conspirators opened business accounts at banks in the Washington metro area, including in the Eastern District of Virginia, and funded them through stolen and counterfeit checks and unauthorized wire transfers. The conspirators then withdrew money from these fraudulent accounts. On a single day in 2013, Goines went to eight SunTrust bank branches in Northern Virginia and cashed eight checks issued to other people by presenting eight different fake IDs.

Goines continued to participate in the conspiracy even after he was put on electronic monitoring due to a probation violation in an unrelated case. In addition, after Goines was arrested, he called a co-conspirator from jail to warn him about the investigation and advise him of steps to take to avoid detection.

This case was investigated by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Alexandria Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kosta S. Stojilkovic prosecuted the case.