Ricardo Rivas Davila; Amanda Diaz Guillen
BROOKFIELD, Wis. - A Florida man accused in a Brookfield forgery case pleaded not guilty and was bound over for trial on Friday, May 17.
Prosecutors charged 37-year-old Ricardo Rivas Davila, along with 28-year-old Amanda Diaz Guillen, in April. Diaz Guillen pleaded not guilty and was bound over for trial on May 13.
Brookfield police were called to a bank on the afternoon of April 17. A loss prevention manager told officers that a suspect tried to get a debit card from a bank account that was opened the previous day, but realized the suspect was part of a "larger scam group that had been traveling to various banks," a criminal complaint said.
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That suspect used a fake name, prosecutors said, but was later identified as Rivas Davila. The complaint said he used a fraudulent passport as identification and a We Energies bill as proof of address. He was suspected of doing the same at another bank branch in Glendale.
While the loss prevention manager was speaking with officers, the complaint states a suspect associated with Rivas Davila walked into the bank. The suspect initially gave a fake name, but was later identified as Diaz Guillen. A third, unidentified person was involved in the scheme, too, according to police.
Brookfield police
Brookfield police found 25 debit and credit cards with various names on them while booking Rivas Davila, per the complaint, as well as two ID cards believed to be fake. Prosecutors accuse both Rivas Davila and Diaz Guillen of committing forgery on a combined five different occasions – including trying to cash checks worth thousands of dollars.
Two bank employees spoke to investigators. According to the complaint, they said they had been tracking the group since, approximately, April 6. The scheme was said to be "fairly complex."