Bank fraud, identity theft lead to 51-month prison sentence                   

OKLAHOMA CITY – Sean Michael Seney, 40, has been sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for bank fraud and identity theft, announced Robert J. Troester, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.

According to a 10-count indictment filed on May 18, 2017, Seney and others presented to banks fraudulent checks that had been altered using information taken from stolen mail.

Seney was charged with four counts of presenting forged checks to various banks, one count of stealing the identity of an individual, one count of theft from the U.S. Mail, three counts of bank fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft.  This alleged criminal conduct took place in February 2015.  Seney has been in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service since June 19, 2017.

On August 3, 2017, Seney pleaded guilty to one count of bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

On March 12, 2018, Chief U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton sentenced Seney to a total of 51 months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, to be followed by five years of supervised release.  In particular, the court imposed a sentence of 27 months for bank fraud and a separate, consecutive sentence of 24 months for aggravated identity theft.

Under federal law, a conviction for aggravated identity theft triggers a mandatory two-year prison term, to be served in addition to sentences for other crimes.  The court further ordered that Seney’s federal prison time will be in addition to undischarged state prison terms in four separate cases prosecuted in Oklahoma County and Tulsa County.  Seney was also ordered to pay $7,708.99 in restitution.

This case is the result of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Rozia McKinney-Foster prosecuted the case.