Fed judge throws the book at 9-11 charity scammers

By Sonja Garza
San Antonio Express-News

Web Posted : 06/08/2002 12:00 AM

A federal judge, calling a Sept. 11 charity hoax the most morally reprehensible fraud he ever had seen, Friday sentenced a San Antonio couple to maximum five-year prison terms.

Monica Cerda and her husband, Robert Lopez, are escorted into the federal courthouse.They were sentenced Friday. William Luther/Express-News

Prosecutors said Robert Lopez, 31, and Monica Cerda, 29, scammed caring people by falsely claiming that her sister died of smoke inhalation in the terror attacks at the World Trade Center.

She pleaded guilty to mail fraud in January; he pleaded guilty in March.

In a stern reprimand, U.S. District Judge Fred Biery told the defendants they forever will bear the same label worn by Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh — the tag of "federal felon."

Biery called their crime an example of moral depravity for which the community feels righteous indignation.

"While all these other human beings were suffering and dying, your only motivation was to make a little money," Biery said.

Within hours of the twin towers' collapse, Cerda walked into the Broadway National Bank in Leon Springs seeking donations to bury her sister, Veronica.

Cerda left a collection jar at the bank, and the couple opened a memorial fund in the sister's name, according to prosecutors and court documents.

One donation included a $25 check made out to the memorial fund that was mailed to the bank, hence the federal mail fraud charge.

Lopez, appearing grief-stricken, gave an interview to a local TV station, seeking more donations.

In the news broadcast, he displayed a photo of a woman and child he claimed to be his deceased sister-in-law and the young son she left behind.

The picture actually was an old photograph of Cerda.

Cerda does have a sister named Veronica. She was in Texas, not New York, at the time of the attacks.

The couple apologized to the court Friday before sentencing.

"I feel bad for what I've done. ... This should have never been done," Lopez said.

Cerda agreed.

"I want to apologize to the community that we defrauded," she said.

The late contrition didn't help.

Biery departed from federal sentencing guidelines to hand the pair the maximum penalty allowed by law.

The couple and their attorneys had expected the most they would get was eight months in prison.

The judge said he put a lot of thought into the case, saying it was one of the few he took home to consider.

"You didn't do any monetary or physical damage, but you damaged the fabric of people's trust in humanity," Biery told the two.

After the scam was discovered, the bank returned all the money collected from the donors, which totaled about $2,000.

Attorneys for the couple objected to the harsh sentence.

"I don't think they really thought out the consequences," said Cerda's court-appointed lawyer, Keith Baker.

Lopez's attorney, federal public defender Molly Lizbeth Roth, suggested her client was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time.

Robert D. Grant, acting special agent in charge of the FBI's San Antonio office, said the case should serve as a lesson to those who would "contemplate taking unfair advantage of human tragedy."

"These individuals got what they deserved," Grant said.

sgarza@express-news.net