Dover Man Pleads Guilty to Bank Fraud and Violating Supervised Release

            CONCORD – Daniel Desrochers, 48, of Dover, pleaded guilty in federal court to committing bank fraud and violating his supervised release conditions, Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley announced today.

           According to court documents and statements made in court, from December of 2019 until August of 2020, Desrochers maintained personal checking accounts at two separate banks in New Hampshire.  In July of 2020, Desrochers registered his catering business, Legacy Hospitality, L.L.C. (Legacy) with the New Hampshire Secretary of State.  He then opened a business bank account for Legacy at a third bank.

           From July 27 through September of 2020, Desrochers defrauded the banks by engaging in a check-kiting scheme.  He would make fraudulent check deposits into the Legacy business account and one of his personal accounts using checks written on the other personal account in amounts that exceeded the amount of money in that account.  This would artificially inflate the apparent available balance in the receiving accounts.  Desrochers would then withdraw funds through ATM withdrawals, debit card transactions and other electronic transfers before the financial institutions received notice that the checks were unpaid for insufficient funds.   

           In addition to pleading guilty to bank fraud, Desrochers also admitted that his actions violated the conditions of his supervised release for a previous felony wire fraud conviction.   

           Desrochers is scheduled to be sentenced on August 24, 2021.

           “When defendants are placed on supervised release after serving a prison sentence, they have an opportunity to demonstrate that they can comply with the law and become productive members of society,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Farley.  “Rather than take advantage of this opportunity, this defendant chose to engage in additional fraud crimes.  As this case demonstrates, those who commit crimes after being released from prison will be caught and held accountable for their additional criminal conduct.”

           This matter was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Probation Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cam Le.