Last charges dropped in bank fraud

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Federal prosecutors have dropped charges against a man who received money diverted from the Anasazi Downtown project without knowing it was part of a bank fraud.

David Garcia received the money for a home he was building from his father, Vincent Garcia, who was one of the developers of the Anasazi project.  The unfinished commercial-residential project looms nine stories tall over the intersection Sixth Street and Central Avenue SW in downtown Albuquerque.

The elder Garcia and Derek Barnhill both have pleaded guilty to defrauding the now-defunct bank that was financing the project by filing false paperwork to receive payouts from the construction loan.

Vincent Garcia admitted diverting additional cash to invest in a casino. He and Barnhill face up to 20 years in prison and $1 million fines each when they are sentenced. Sentencing dates have not been set.

A federal agency took control of the Anasazi property and recently secured the building at the request of city officials to keep transients and copper thieves out.