Four former and current guards at Rikers Island and a city Transit Authority track worker nicknamed “Heavy Pockets” were arrested for taking part in a $3 million check fraud scheme, according to the feds.
Federal prosecutors announced Monday that nine people have so far been indicted in the scheme, including two former Rikers guards who pleaded guilty to wire and bank fraud conspiracy in May.
The group took their cues from Bianca Viuex, a 33-year-old Fort Lauderdale and former Queens resident who sought out accomplices to open bank accounts where falsified checks could be deposited, according to the feds.
She called the banks they used her “playground” in one text message, and bragged in another, “I never set up a man in my life! lol I scam the government not human beings I don’t steal from people I still [sic] from banks,” the indictment alleges.
Her co-conspirators included former Rikers Correction Officers Aaron Warren and Tara Dildy, both 36 and from Queens, who have pleaded guilty to bank and wire fraud conspiracy, as well as current Rikers guard Christopher Walker, 34, of Queens, and former guard Valeria Waldron, 37 — who later took a job as a parole officer for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the feds said.
Warren and Didly resigned from the city Department of Corrections after they pleaded guilty, an agency spokesman said. Waldron was terminated and Walker has been suspended since last September.
“The alleged actions of this small group of people is not representative of our staff, who perform a difficult and heroic job day in and day out with integrity,” the spokesman added. “Anyone who violates the trust that is placed in them will be held accountable and doesn’t represent the work of the agency as a whole.”
Also indicted were Steven Boyce, 32, a city Transit Authority track worker from Brooklyn, nicknamed “Heavy Pockets,” Daija-Nek Johnson, 21, of Queens, Destiny Mendez, 29, of Brooklyn, and Michelle Wilson, 54, of Fort Worth, Tex.
“Allegations in their own right don’t mean anything,” Mendez’s lawyer, Howard Greenberg, said Tuesday when asked for comment.
Vieux recruited members of the group on an encrypted messaging platform, and got them to provide their bank account info, the feds allege.
Between 2023 and 2025, she or another member of the group would deposit falsified checks into their co-conspirators’ bank accounts. If the checks cleared, the account’s holder would head to Queens to withdraw large amounts of cash in person, the feds allege.
“Ms. Vieux is innocent of the charges. She looks forward to challenging the government’s accusations and clearing her name at trial,” Vieux’s lawyer, Ilana Haramati, told the Daily News Tuesday.
Boyce also ran a scheme where he made fake Social Security cards he’d sell to Walker, showing off his skill with a video showing a card printed out under the name “Heavy Pockets,” the feds allege.
“As alleged, the defendants conspired to create and deposit fake checks at various banks to line their own pockets at the expense of financial institutions,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella said. “It is particularly egregious when individuals who took an oath to uphold the law and serve the public, choose to commit serious federal crimes to serve themselves.”
Boyce’s lawyer, Kenneth Montgomery, said Tuesday, “We look forward to reviewing the discovery and making sure the presumption of innocence is applied.”
Boyce is being held out of service without pay, according to an MTA spokesman.
Warren and Dildy are set to be sentenced in November. Warren faces a possible 57 to 71 months in federal prison, Dildy a possible 10 to 16 months, according to sentencing guidelines.
At her May change-of-plea hearing, Dildy apologized for her role in the alleged conspiracy.
“The money came from fraudulent checks. I was aware of this,” she told a judge. “While I did not have decision-making authority or was aware of the full scope of the scheme and conspiracy, I knew at the time that my actions were illegal and wrong. Since my arrest I’ve done a lot of personal reflection. I accept full responsibility for my wrongdoing and the harm I caused to any victims. I especially regret my past associations. I will never do anything like this ever again. I am truly sorry.”