111 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd.
White Plains, NY 10601
Tel: (914) 995-3586
Fax: (914) 995-2116

July 14, 2015 -- Westchester County District Attorney Janet DiFiore announced that Sire Lewis (DOB 07/27/84) of 1 Glenwood Avenue, Yonkers, New York, was arraigned today on a Felony Complaint charging him with:

• one count of Criminal Possession of a Weapon in the Second Degree, a class “C” Felony,
• one count of Criminal Possession of a Forgery Device, a class “D” Felony,
• twenty-two counts of Criminal Possession of a Forged Instrument in the Second Degree, class “D” Felonies.

As part of a year long investigation into complaints by business owners of fraudulent checks being cashed, the District Attorneys office determined that this defendant used a number of women as “mules,” sometimes dressed in hospital scrubs to allay suspicion, to cash fraudulent checks containing stolen account information from businesses in the metropolitan area. He would then promise the mules a percentage of the cashed check.

The defendant gained access to a company’s account information, then created forgeries using the stolen account number and had a mule go to various banks to cash the forged checks.

Based on a multi jurisdictional investigation and surveillance, a warrant was obtained and executed at the defendant’s residence.

The defendant had twenty-two forged business checks purporting to be drawn on the business checking accounts of Dependable Ambulette Inc. located in Valley Stream, Long Island and AK International Architectural Wood of Whitestone, Queens on his person.

In addition the defendant possessed various check forging paraphernalia including:

• hundreds of pages of blank check stock,
• Epson DS30 Scanner,
• Versacheck Check Writing Software discs,
• HP Desk Jet 2540 printer, copier and scanner,
• Dell Laptop attached to an HP LaserJet P1102W containing blank check stock in the document feeder,
• approximately $6,000 in US Currency.

In addition, the defendant had secreted in his apartment a .38 caliber Charter Arms handgun stolen from Hampton, Virginia.

The defendant was arrested by investigators from the District Attorneys office with the assistance of the Yonkers police.

He was arraigned today in Yonkers City Court and remanded.

The defendant’s next appearance will be on Aug. 18, 2015.

The defendant faces a maximum sentence of fifteen years prison.

Assistant District Attorney Steven Vandervelden, Chief of the Organized Crime and Criminal Enterprise Bureau and Assistant District Attorney Cheryl Lee of the Identity Theft Unity are prosecuting the case.

In compliance with Disciplinary Rule 7-107A of the Code of Professional Responsibility, you are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.