Salt Lake City man pleads guilty to over $3.5 million worth of wire fraud
Dec 12, 2024, 1:13 PM
FILE — A gavel pictured in a courtroom. (Yuri A., Shutterstock)
(Yuri A., Shutterstock)
SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake City man pleaded guilty on Wednesday to perpetrating over $3.5 million worth of wire fraud.
According to a press release from the United States Department of Justice, Santiago Garcia Gutierrez pleaded guilty to charges of “wire fraud, impersonating a federal officer, aggravated identity theft and making false statements.”
Garcia defrauded nine people between 2019 and 2024.
The DOJ said one of those victims lost $2.8 million due to Garcia’s crimes.
Garcia lied to that victim, saying he could get exotic cars and planes at a discounted rate because they had been forfeited to the U.S. government.
The DOJ previously said that Garcia told the victim they would get the assets in return for “earnest money payments,” or good faith deposits.
He also contacted the victim through several phone numbers, pretending to be a government informant, a federal agent and his own attorney.
This fraud went on from 2018 to 2020, according to the DOJ.
In 2019, Garcia began defrauding an additional eight people in a scheme that lasted into 2024.
The DOJ said Garcia pretended to be his own attorney to perpetrate this scheme.
Garcia got these victims to invest in federal oil wells with promises of “large returns on investment.”
“The victims never realized any profits, however, because Garcia diverted the investment funds for his own benefit,” the DOJ said.
He had an “ownership interest” in these wells, the DOJ said. However, he didn’t pay royalties on the sale of extracted oil.
The victims in this scheme lost $775,000.
Garcia faces up to 20 years in prison for each count of wire fraud, along with several more years for counts of making a false statement and impersonating a federal officer. Garcia will be sentenced in May 2025.
