California woman sentenced on forgery

OMAHA -- U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bataillon sentenced a Fontana, Calif., woman Thursday for her involvement in a conspiracy to forge endorsements on U.S. treasury checks that ended with arrests last summer in Cambridge.

Giovanna Rita Stampella, 26, was sentenced Thursday to seven months in prison, three months of home confinement and three years of supervised release. She must also pay $6,298.30 in restitution.

According to a release from U.S. Attorney Michael G. Heavican, a number of treasury warrants issued as 2004 income tax refunds were stolen from a Los Angeles post office before July 2005. Stampella and others traveled from California to central Nebraska where they passed or attempted to pass the warrants in Cambridge, Arapahoe, Beaver City, Oxford, Alma, Holbrook, Superior, Orleans, Franklin and Campbell.

On July 21, a group of men and women matching the description of those attempting to cash fraudulent checks at banks in Southwest Nebraska were stopped by a Furnas County deputy sheriff in Cambridge.

A search of their van recovered 14 treasury warrants and false California driver's licenses to match the names on the warrants. Stampella and the others successfully cashed warrants totaling $6,298.30.

The value of the recovered checks totaled more than $30,000.

Stampella has been in custody since her arrest.

Others involved in the crime were Michael Munoz and Maria Lagunas, who were sentenced in district court in Omaha Jan. 17 to varying times in prison and supervised release. Jose Luis Hernandez-Gomez and Ana Bell-Rodriguez were also implicated; Heavican has not released any information on the disposition of charges against them.

Conspiracy to forge endorsements on U.S. treasury checks carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and/or $250,000 fine; and three years of supervised release.