- Salt Lake resident Santiago Garcia Gutierrez was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for wire fraud.
- Garcia defrauded victims of over $3 million, posing as a federal informant.
- He must pay $3.8 million restitution and forfeit $2.8 million to the government.
SALT LAKE CITY — A Salt Lake man was sentenced this month in federal court to nine years in prison for committing more than $3 million in wire fraud, among other charges.
Santiago Garcia Gutierrez, 56, pleaded guilty in December to wire fraud, impersonating a federal officer, aggravated identity theft and making a false statement to law enforcement.
From 2018 to 2020, Garcia defrauded a victim of more than $2.8 million by falsely representing that he was a “confidential informant” with the Department of Homeland Security. He claimed to the victim he could acquire discounted exotic cars, planes and vessels that had been seized by the U.S. government through forfeiture and persuaded the victim to give him money on the belief that he was purchasing luxury assets, court documents state…