3 weeks ago
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An Orange County man was sentenced Wednesday, Jan. 28, to three years and eight months in prison for his role in a crime ring that targeted surfers, stealing their bank cards and phones to drain money from their accounts while they were catching waves at Southern California beaches.
Moundir Kamil, 56, pleaded guilty in September to one count each of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, attempted bank fraud and aggravated identity theft in the scheme that netted nearly $1 million between April 2021 and December 2022, according to federal prosecutors. He will also have to pay restitution of $979,772.84, the loss prosecutors allege he caused to financial institutions because of the scheme, and will be eligible for one year of supervised release.
Kamil’s co-defendants Jordan Adams and Jennifer Pruneda previously pleaded guilty to the same charges. Further information about their cases was sealed from public view.
Through tears, Kamil apologized to victims of the theft ring and his family in court.
“I blame myself daily,” he said, adding that he thinks often of his wife’s medical issues and how he can no longer serve as her caretaker. He also said he hoped his children can forgive him.
“That’s eating at me from the inside out,” Kamil wrote in a letter to Judge Fernando M. Olguin. “The hardship that my family is going through ...
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