Officials Say Conman Stole $130K From HI Banks
Prosecutors Say Man Used Phony Businesses To Cash Checks With No Money
POSTED: 5:15 pm HST December 1, 2009
UPDATED: 6:39 am HST December 2, 2009
HONOLULU -- Oahu law enforcement officials arrested a man they said conned Hawaii banks out of $130,000.Tyler Adams, 37, was indicted on Tuesday in connection with scamming Hawaii banks. He faces more trouble on the mainland.His neighbors at his Kahala condominium knew him as Kevin Kennedy, but that was just one of Adam's alter egos, prosecutors said."He's a con man, a sociopath, who had no regard for the victims' property," Deputy Prosecutor Chris Van Marter said.Seeming to change faces as often as he changed names, the high-living young man with the beautiful Russian wife came to Hawaii, designed sophisticated ID cards for several identities and used his charm on local bankers, prosecutors said."He was able to scam a number of very experienced bank officials with his sophistication, his education," Van Marter said.Adams got business banking privileges for five phony companies, which started to exchange big phony checks."Usually on a three-day weekend, he would flood an account with a bunch of checks from one of his accounts, making huge deposits of monies. The banks posted those funds almost immediately and then over the weekend he would withdraw large amounts of money," Van Marter said.Adams hit Bank of Hawaii three times using that M.O. and another bank once. When police raided his rental unit at a Kahala complex, they found evidence Adams wanted more."(They) found hundreds, literally hundreds, of checks they were pre-made out and looked like they were about to be used in additional check-kiting schemes," Van Marter said.
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