A citizen of the Democratic Republic of Congo who was living in South Portland under a fake identity was arrested on Tuesday on several federal bank fraud charges.

Mukonkole Huge Kifwa, 30, was arrested on a federal warrant on three counts of bank fraud. He remains in custody at the Cumberland County Jail in Portland pending a scheduled initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Portland on Wednesday to face the charges.

Kifwa is accused of obtaining a Texas driver’s identification card with the name Adrien Lushiku Ndowa and using it to open several bank accounts late last year in that name. He then made small deposits in two of those accounts and proceeded to make withdrawals for nearly $10,000 to overdraft the accounts, and used the third bank account to deposit counterfeit checks for more than $60,000, according to court records.

Kifwa had already been deported back to his home country once from Canada in 2013 for fraud and forgery charges there, according to an affidavit filed with the court by Andrew Shea, an investigator from the federal Diplomatic Security Services, seeking a warrant for Kifwa’s arrest.

Kifwa entered the United States on Feb. 2, 2014, on a non-immigrant domestic visa and then applied for and obtained the Texas identification card on June 4, 2014, court records state.

He was arrested in Atlanta on Oct. 16, 2014, on a charge of making a false public report, court records here state. But he was apparently allowed to remain free and commit his alleged crimes in Maine thereafter.

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In the first bank fraud count against Kifwa, he is accused of depositing $195 into a Comerica Bank account on Sept. 23 using the fake name, and then using three checks from the account to pay expenses in amounts totaling $1,793.65 in October and November.

In the second count, he is accused of opening a Gorham Savings Bank account under the fake name on Dec. 1 with a $500 cash deposit and withdrawing a total of $6,939.55.

In the third count, he is accused of opening an account at TD Bank under the fake name and his live-in girlfriend’s name on last Sept. 9. He then used counterfeit checks, including fake city of Portland payroll checks, and through ATM deposits in other peoples accounts from November to March for a total amount of $69,395.55, according to court records.

Kifwa faces up to 30 years in federal prison and possible deportation back to his native country.


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