Woman pleads guilty in $357,000 bad check case
NEW ORLEANS — A suburban New Orleans woman has pleaded guilty in a bank fraud case involving fraudulent checks used to buy real estate and expensive automobiles.
Fifty-two-year-old Maria Spears pleaded guilty this week to one count of bank larceny.
Prosecutors said she closed a checking account she had at Gulf Coast Bank in 2011. But, in 2015 and 2016, she wrote $357,000 worth of bad checks on the closed account, purchasing real estate, three sports cars and an SUV.
Sentencing was set for Oct. 25 after Spears’ guilty plea on Wednesday. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans says the charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison.