A Venezuelan man, who federal prosecutors say acted as part of a crime ring, was arrested this week, accused of stealing more than $800,000 in stimulus money from Americans living in Florida and Mexico.

According to a Miami Herald report, federal authorities charged Jesus Felipe Linares Andrade, a 34-year-old Florida resident, with conspiring to steal government money and identity theft. The prosecutors have suggested that up to four co-conspirators, also Venezuelans, could also be charged. So far, however, Linares is the only member of the ring under arrest; he has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bond.

It is unclear precisely how the thefts worked, but it seems that the ring managed to intercept stimulus payments to residents of Florida and Mexico and cash them by using false identification documents. Fortunately, federal officials had been aware of the ring for at least six months. In January, the FBI arranged for an informant to discuss with one of the four members how to illegally cash 30 stolen checks, intended for U.S. citizens living in Mexico, worth $1200 apiece.

The informant responded that he could cash the checks for a percentage of their value, and took possession of the checks, which were sent on to the FBI. Rather than cash them, the bureau sent their cash equivalent to the ring via Zelle, a banking and money transfer app.

In April, two informants met with Linares and together picked up a UPS package containing 400 stolen Treasury checks collectively worth nearly $250,000. In the same month, Linares collaborated with one of the informants in obtaining fraudulent identity documents to be used for the purpose of cashing the checks. By the end of the month, Linares had obtained 30 false identity documents and an additional $150,000 in stimulus checks.

Since March 2020, a total of $3200 in stimulus payments have been sent to nearly all working- and middle-class Americans, at a total cost to the government of more than $400 billion. Further payments have been made in other areas, including federal unemployment insurance and an increased Child Tax Credit.

The presence of $1200 checks in Linares’s possession would indicate that the Florida crime ring has operated at least since 2020, when the first round of stimulus checks of that amount were sent out according to the requirements of the March 2020 CARES Act.

Trevor Filseth is a news reporter and writer for the National Interest.