An employee of a home health agency was sentenced Monday to time served in connection with multiple federal charges related to a bank fraud and money laundering investigation, records show.
On Monday, the court sentenced Ramon Hiram Olivares to 683 days served — the time Olivares has spent in custody since his arrest nearly two years ago. He will additionally have to serve 2 years of supervised release, records show.
Starting in 2012 and ending roughly around mid-2014, Olivares allegedly attempted to launder money and commit bank fraud by lying on bank forms when depositing and withdrawing from a bank.
The 44-year-old Mercedes man allegedly defrauded Wells Fargo by playing a role in a scheme which sought to obtain money using fake pretenses or representations, according to the indictment against him.
According to the court document, Olivares obtained personal identifying information for another person by representing he was associated with the U.S. government.
Additionally, the government alleges Olivares also obtained identifying information from people living and working in Mexico.
Also as part of the scheme, Olivares allegedly got a hold of checks made payable to the aforementioned people from Manos de Oro, a home health agency’s bank account.
Checks were allegedly made payable to employees of Manos de Oro, despite their lack of knowledge that the checks were made for them, and without ever actually performing any work or services for the home health agency.
“It was further part of the scheme and artifice to defraud that (Olivares) forged signatures of the individuals to whom checks were made payable in order to make it appear to Wells Fargo that checks were properly endorsed by the payees,” the court records show.
Olivares allegedly deposited roughly 69 checks for a total amount of $135,500 into a bank account and then another 16 checks for roughly $48,900, records show.
In addition to money laundering charges from proceeds likely derived from illegal means, Olivares is also accused of making false statements to federal agents on March 19, 2019, and is allegedly tied to known drug trafficker Virgil Carillo, listed as “CC-1” in the indictment.
Carillo, who was convicted in a separate drug trafficking case, admitted to federal authorities his involvement in drug smuggling, his family’s history with drug smuggling and other illegal activities. He additionally said his mother in-law, Esmeralda Trevino, was a close friend of Olivares, court records show.
November 2013 to about May 2014, Olivares conspired with Carillo and others “to conduct financial transactions affecting interstate commerce and foreign commerce, which transactions involved the proceeds of specified unlawful activity, that is the distribution of a Schedule II controlled substance, to wit, cocaine,” the document stated.
In a court transcript from July 19, 2019, a federal agent testified about a meeting in which Olivares and Carillo agreed to work together to launder money derived from drug smuggling.
“So we learned that at a social gathering, that Mr. Olivares and Mr. Carillo had a conversation with regards to Mr. Olivares being able to put Mr. Carillo on the payroll of Manos de Oro as — that it could appear that he would be an employee of that company,” the transcript stated. “…they came up with an agreement that Mr. Carillo would take his illegal proceeds and exchange them with Mr. Olivares — would exchange a check from Manos de Oro for the exact amount.”
Agents also allegedly interviewed employees of Manos de Oro and showed them a picture of Carillo, but they did not recognize him as an employee of the home health agency.
When Trevino was asked about Carillo, she told agents he was an employee of Manos de Oro; but agents did not find her statements truthful.
Olivares was represented by McAllen-based defense attorney Christopher Sully, records show.
