Inglewood Man to Plead Guilty in Wells Fargo Fraud Scheme

LOS ANGELES, CA - An Inglewood man is expected to plead guilty Thursday to his role in a $600,000 scheme in which Wells Fargo Bank employees stole customer account information in order to empty their accounts.

Ronald "Disco Ronnie" Reed, 69, will enter his plea to charges of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, according to a plea agreement filed in Los Angeles federal court. He faces a possible sentence of anywhere between two and 30 years in federal prison.

Reed admitted he recruited three bank employees in 2013 and 2014 and asked them to access the bank's computer records, then purchased customers' personal data, including birth dates and information pertaining to their accounts, driver's licenses and social security cards, according to the agreement.

With the stolen information, fake IDs were created in the names of bank customers and substantial cash withdrawals totaling about $600,000 were made from their accounts at bank branches across Southern California and elsewhere, authorities said.

--City News Service, photo via Shutterstock