A third person involved in a conspiracy to steal $4 million from the city of Lexington while posing as a nonprofit has pleaded guilty to federal offenses.

Jean Mejia-Garcia pleaded guilty to conspiracy to money laundering and aggravated identity theft on Jan. 16, according to court documents.

Garcia faces up to 22 years in prison for both counts and fines up to $750,000. Once released, he will be under supervision for up to four years.

Garcia operated in New York and New Jersey alongside other co-conspirators, who have already been sentenced, to procure fake or real identities and open bank accounts in their name, according to court documents.

His Kentucky charges stem from an operation where he, Shimea McDonald and Nana Amuah, emailed the city of Lexington pretending to be from the Community Action Council, convincing a city official to wire money owed to the nonprofit organization into a bank account at Truist Bank that belonged to the conspirators, according to court documents.

Truist Bank and the city recovered all the money, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Susan Straub, a spokesperson for Lexington-Fayette County Urban Government, said no action was taken against city employees.

“There was no criminal involvement of City or Community Action employees,” Straub said in an emailed statement to the Herald-Leader. “It was a sophisticated criminal operation that involved multiple emails and a complicated scheme. The Mayor ordered an immediate in-depth examination of the city’s internal wire transfer processes, and implemented extra training for staff to ensure government employees are well trained to detect it.

“Unfortunately, this kind of theft is all too common. It happens to businesses, universities, non-profits, and governments. Cybercrime is a growing problem around the world.”

Garcia worked for Amuah and discussed the fake IDs, the location of the bank accounts, and the names of the accounts, according to court documents.

Once money entered the accounts set up by Garcia, he was directed to withdraw, prepare checks, wire or otherwise bring stolen money after Garcia received his portion.

“Working with others, Garcia then would wire or otherwise bring money or checks to the other co-conspirators, who facilitated further transfers or initiated the underlying scheme to defraud victims,” Garcia’s plea agreement states.

Amuah was sentenced to seven years in prison in November.

McDonald was sentenced to six years and eight months in early January.