Produce scam ends in jail time

Redwood Cityman gets 41 months for cheating vendors

SAN JOSE — A 35-yearold Redwood City man was sentenced Wednesday to 41 months in prison for scamming more than three dozen produce vendors out of $2 million worth of fruits and vegetables, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The sentence, handed down by Judge Lucy H. Koh, follows Remon Issa Daniel’s decision to plead guilty to wire fraud in July.

Between 2014 and Feb. 25, 2016, the date of his arrest, Daniel ordered produce primarily from vendors in California, Arizona and Texas, and usually claimed to be from Bay Area Produce, New San Jose Wholesale or General Produce, each an actual produce wholesaler in Northern California, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Federal prosecutors said Daniel had no association with those wholesalers — he would send a vendor a copy of a deposit slip as proof of payment, but only after the produce was released would the vendor learn that the check had been returned for insufficient funds.

A grand jury indicted Daniel on 14 counts of wire fraud in March.

He pleaded guilty to three counts and the rest were dismissed as part of a plea agreement, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

In addition to being sentenced to 41 months in prison, Daniel was ordered by Koh to pay nearly $1.7 million in restitution to his victims and to serve three years of supervised release.

Federal prosecutors said Daniel, who is currently in custody, will begin serving his sentence immediately.