The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, in partnership with the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Department, has uncovered a money laundering scheme within the walls of the Milpitas-based Elmwood Correctional Facility that has left 34 victims with a total of $17,000 in losses.
According to County District Attorney Jeffrey Rosen and Deputy District Attorney Tom Flattery, an Elmwood inmate identified as 26-year-old Darin Volk of Turlock headed up the scheme with 11 others.
Volk allegedly enlisted the help of fellow inmates for the use of their commissary and telephone accounts to launder money obtained from stolen credit card accounts. Commissary accounts are given to inmates in prison and allow them to either deposit funds they earn from prison jobs, or allow friends and family to deposit funds for them, which can then be used to purchase items from the prison’s commissary store. Inmates can also authorize friends and family on the outside to withdraw money from their commissary accounts.
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