A 53-year-old Franklin, Tennessee, man has been sentenced in a scheme that diverted more than $1.5 million in Fresno County payments to a bank account he controlled. Prosecutors said the scheme used fake invoices in 2020 to impersonate a Fresno nonprofit employee. Jafaar September Nyangoro was ordered to pay $1,178,000 in restitution; reports differ on the length of his prison sentence.
How the Scheme Unfolded
Court documents cited by WKRN News 2 say Nyangoro and others accessed an email account used by the finance director of Turning Point of Central California, a Fresno nonprofit. They then posed as the director and told Fresno County that the nonprofit’s banking details had changed, submitting fraudulent invoices and directing the county to send payments to a different account. County employees updated the payment information believing they were communicating with the nonprofit.
Nyangoro opened the account that received the payments. From September 24 to October 13, 2020, Fresno County initiated several ACH transfers totaling more than $1.5 million to that account, WKRN reported. The scheme took place over a couple of months in September and October 2020, according to The Fresno Bee.
A Frantic Message and a Reversal
The scheme began to unravel on October 16, 2020, when Regions Bank reversed some of the ACH transfers over suspected fraud, WKRN reported. That day, Nyangoro messaged the group on WhatsApp that the last three Fresno County transactions had been reversed and urged an immediate call. The Justice Department said Nyangoro communicated with co-defendant Peter Bah Acha and others through WhatsApp and other means during the scheme.
Acha, 46, is identified as Nyangoro's co-defendant and reportedly lives in Berlin, Germany, per the same account. Nyangoro pleaded guilty on June 22, 2026, to conspiracy to commit wire fraud tied to the scheme targeting Fresno County. He had been in custody since his initial appearance on May 29, 2025, the outlet reported.
Sentence and Restitution
Eric Grant, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of California, announced Nyangoro’s sentence. The Justice Department announcement reported a prison term of three years and 10 months and $1,178,000 in restitution, while WKRN reported a 10-month term and the same restitution amount. The accounts conflict on the prison term. KSEE/KGPE reportedly contacted Fresno County for comment on the sentencing.
County's Losses and Broader Pattern
Fresno County recovered $112,000 after discovering the fraud, and insurance covered roughly $875,000, according to a county spokesperson cited by The Fresno Bee. The outlet reported that the county has since introduced new processes in an effort to prevent future fraud. The Bee also reported a separate 2020 scam targeting the City of Fresno, involving $613,737, which became public after the outlet reported on it in 2022.
Other Fresno fraud cases and national context
The City of Fresno incident was separate from the Fresno County nonprofit scheme. In that case, two electronic fund transfers totaling $613,737 went to a false account connected to a construction contractor, according to the Fresno County Civil Grand Jury. The report said city officials’ attempts to recover the payments were unsuccessful, unlike the county case, in which $112,000 was recovered and roughly $875,000 was covered by insurance. For broader context, the FBI’s Internet Crime Complaint Center said cyber-enabled fraud accounted for almost 83% of losses reported to IC3 in 2024. That national measure does not establish a local trend or show that the method used in this case was typical.
