FRESNO COUNTY – The United States Attorney’s Office Eastern District of California announced that two men were indicted on six charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud related to a scheme run in Fresno County nearly five years ago.
A May 15 press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office identified the two men as Jafaar September Nyangoro, 52, of Tennessee, and Peter Bah Acha, 45, of Berlin. The press release said a magistrate judge in Nashville ordered detained Nyangoro on May 14 and he will make an appearance in court in Fresno at a later date; it did not include information on Acha’s whereabouts.
“As confirmed today by the U.S. Attorney’s Office press release, Fresno County is grateful for the tireless efforts and work of our federal law enforcement partners in identifying and charging two individuals for conspiracy to defraud Fresno County,” Fresno County said in a press release also issued on May 15.
The charges are related to an incident that took place in September and October 2020. The U.S. Attorney’s Office alleges that Nyangoro, Acha “and others” submitted fraudulent invoices to Fresno County for payment through Automated Clearing House (ACH) transactions.
Between Sept. 24, 2020, and Oct. 13, 2020, the county initiated multiple transfers totaling more than $1.67 million to Nyangoro’s bank account.
According to the press release, the individuals were able to submit these invoices after — at some point before Sept. 14, 2020 — they gained control of an email account used by the finance director of a Fresno-based nonprofit that contracts with the county. With the account, they posed as the nonprofit’s finance director and told Fresno County that the nonprofit’s bank account information had changed.
“Once the fraud was detected, immediate steps were taken to recall the payments, but only a partial amount could be recovered at that time,” Fresno County said. “Law enforcement was immediately notified along with the Board of Supervisors.”
An investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation led to the charges, and Assistant U.S. Attorney David L. Gappa will be prosecuting the case. Fresno County said it did not release information about the case publicly immediately after the discovery of the fraud at the request of federal law enforcement officials in order to maintain the integrity of the investigation.
According to Fresno County, the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer-Tax Collector’s Office reversed and recovered $112,000 of those funds upon discovery of the fraud. Further, approximately $875,000 was covered by insurance. Fresno County said it does not yet know if federal authorities were able to seize any of the funds that could be reimbursed to the county.
The auditor-controller’s office updated county processes shortly after the incident to protect against similar fraud schemes, and staff attended a county-wide training to review risks of fraud and learn how to prevent fraud, according to the county. Fresno County said it performs internal audits quarterly to review vendors set up on electronic payments to ensure that proper controls have been followed.
Further, Fresno County’s press release said that while the case was not the result of any cybersecurity failures within Fresno County, the county established an Office of Information Security that reports to the County Administrative Officer to strengthen county security.
“This office continues to enhance cybersecurity by centralizing risk management, policy development and incident response while ensuring collaboration with departments,” the press release said.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said that, if convicted, Nyangoro and Acha could face up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and wire fraud.
