ST. LOUIS – The final defendant to be arrested, David Sims, appeared in U.S. District Court in St. Louis Thursday for a detention hearing.
The indictment says that from as early as November 2024 through January 2026, Stewart and Finger received Treasury checks that had been stolen in Florida, Minnesota, California and Tennessee. They then created fraudulent driver’s licenses, U.S. passports and other identification documents so the checks could be cashed, the indictment says. The pair provided housing and clothing to their co-conspirators, the indictment says. They took them to the banks after coaching them so they could answer questions from bank staff about why the checks bore addresses in other states, the indictment says. The defendants told bank employees that they had recently moved to the St. Louis and provided fake utility bills and identification to bolster the lies, the indictment says.
Sims, 68, Jose Marti, 37, and Christopher Brown, 50, face various counts of all five charges. Cynthia Conner, 51, Ryan Ewald, 47, and Lisa Taca, 48, also face various counts of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, possession of stolen mail and aggravated identity theft. The indictment says they deposited the checks and withdrew the money.
In one example provided in the indictment, Stewart and Finger gave Sims a fake ID that he used to deposit a stolen $937,809 Treasury check. The defendants then caused the withdrawal of $597,890. On July 21, 2025, Stewart and Finger gave Sims a fake passport and a stolen $669,185 Treasury check, the indictment says. Sims later returned to the bank and withdrew $6,500.
The conspiracy and bank fraud charges are punishable by up to 30 years in prison, a $1 million fine or both prison and a fine. The forging charge is punishable by up to 10 years and the same fine. Possession of stolen mail carries a penalty of up to five years and/or a $250,000 fine and aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two years in prison consecutive to any other sentence.
All defendants have appeared in court and pleaded not guilty. Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.
IRS Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jolene Taaffe is prosecuting the case.
