Juan Iriarte Sanchez, 33, of Coconut Creek, was adjudicated guilty and sentenced to prison, for
stealing checks out of mailboxes and illegally cashing them.
Sanchez pled guilty to one count of Criminal Use of Personal Identification of 10 or More
Individuals and 16 counts of Uttering Forged Instruments. Sanchez was sentenced to 3 years
minimum mandatory in prison followed by 4 years of probation for the first count. He was also
ordered to pay $9,391.14 to various banks for restitution. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison
for the other counts to run concurrently to count one.
Sanchez would steal checks out of residential mailboxes and then wash the writing off of them,
making them out to himself. He would then go to various banks and cash them. The defendant
victimized 12 individuals on 16 separate checks. This case was originally investigated by the
Cape Coral Police Department Economic Crimes Unit. Additional victims then came forward
and reports were done by the Economic Crime Units of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Fort
Myers Police Department, and the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office. All of the investigations
were then given to the State Attorney’s Office Economic Crimes Unit for review.
The defendant was ultimately identified on bank video as the suspect by an officer from the
Hialeah Police Department, after the State Attorney’s Office ECU, recognized a previous arrest
in Hialeah. Sanchez was then arrested in November 2020 by the Cape Coral Police Department.
Assistant State Attorney James Miller, Economic Crimes Unit Chief, prosecuted the case.
Samantha Syoen
Communications Director
State Attorney’s Office
239-533-1125
ssyoen@sao20.org