GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – A federal grand jury in Greeneville returned a 15-count indictment on February 8, 2022, against Johntavis Rogers, 24, of Fort Myers, Florida, for wire fraud, bank fraud, money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. Rogers appeared in court on March 3, 2022, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Cynthia Richardson Wyrick and entered a plea of not guilty to the charges in the indictment. Rogers had previously been arrested in Fort Myers on February 18, 2022, and was released pending trial, which now has been set for August 16, 2022, in United States District Court, in Greeneville, Tennessee.
The indictment alleges that Rogers used interstate wire communications to defraud financial institutions. According to the indictment, Rogers contacted unsuspecting persons in the Eastern District of Tennessee through various social media platforms, such as Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram. Rogers would convince unsuspecting victims that he had discovered a way to legitimately deposit funds into their accounts with financial institutions and share the proceeds. When customers provided their account login information, the indictment alleges that Rogers would use online banking applications to deposit fraudulent checks into their accounts and then cause the transfer of proceeds from those checks to himself. The indictment alleges that the scheme affected six financial institutions in this area between March 2021 and August 2021.
If convicted of bank fraud, Rogers faces a term of 30 years in prison, a fine of $1 million, and up to five years on supervised release.
The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Cyber Crime Task Force, the Criminal Investigative Division of the Tennessee Highway Patrol, and the White Pine Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Mac Heavener represents the United States.
Members of the public are reminded that the charges in the criminal complaint are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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