By Thaddeus Miller
Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.)
(TNS)
March 21—A Mexican national faces six counts related to allegedly embezzling $1 million as an employee of a Fresno fruit wholesaler, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sergio Zacarias Lopez, 57, who was most recently living in Fresno, was charged with bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and illegal re-entry of a removed alien, Acting U.S. Attorney Michele Beckwith said Thursday in a news release.
He was charged Feb. 27, but the indictment was not public until Thursday. Attempts to reach his attorney were unsuccessful.
Zacarias Lopez was the accounting supervisor and controller for a family-run fruit wholesaler in Fresno between January 2016 and June 2023, prosecutors said.
He wrote company checks payable to “cash” and deposited them into his own bank account, according to prosecutors. He forged the signatures of other employees.
The alleged embezzlement was detected by a bank, which led the wholesaler to fire Zacarias Lopez, prosecutors said.
He had used a stolen Social Security card and fake employment paperwork to conceal that he was in the country illegally before getting the job with the wholesaler, according to prosecutors.
He had been deported from the US in 2000 and was not legally allowed to return, according to the DOJ.
Zacarias Lopez faces the potential maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. If convicted of aggravated identity theft or illegal re-entry of a removed alien, he faces a penalty of two years in prison.
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© 2025 the Merced Sun-Star (Merced, Calif.). Visit www.mercedsunstar.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency LLC.
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Tags: accountants, Accounting, bank fraud, identity theft
