A Morton, Pennsylvania, man used fake identification to try to open a small business account at a Waterville bank for people who paid him for each account he opened, according to a criminal complaint.
Yuqi Song, 34, is charged in Le Sueur County District Court with felony identity theft, felony forgery and gross misdemeanor carrying a pistol without a permit. The complaint was filed Oct. 22. When the complaint was filed, a judge ordered him detained.
According to the complaint, Waterville police arrested Song on Oct. 20 after he presented fake identification at Frandsen Bank and Trust while trying to open the account. Officers learned he was working for unknown people who supplied him with fake documents to open bank accounts.
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Song told an officer he found a job on a website and was given a phone number to call, the complaint says. He said he was told to travel to Minnesota and go to banks to open accounts. He said he would get a new fake Minnesota driver’s license for each account. He believed he had opened six business accounts at various banks using fake Minnesota driver’s licenses and Social Security cards.
In his car, a Honda registered to him, investigators found four large manila envelopes on the passenger seat. Each held a Minnesota driver’s license, a Social Security card and business and proof-of-residency documents. Every ID showed Song’s photo. The licenses were fake. The Social Security numbers belonged to people outside Minnesota, according to the complaint. It lists accounts tied to the envelopes at Wells Fargo and Bank of America in Woodbury, Wells Fargo in West Saint Paul and Frandsen Bank in Vadnais Heights, opened between Oct. 16 and Oct. 20.
Song told officers there was a handgun in the center console. Investigators found a loaded Sig Sauer P365 there with a round in the chamber. It was in a holster but not secured in a case for transport. Song does not have a permit to carry, the complaint says.
Other law enforcement agencies in Minnesota are investigating similar cases, according to the complaint. It says the suspects are known to carry multiple fake IDs and business documents. The purpose of opening the accounts is to launder money through them, the complaint says.
