Social media ‘God Squad’ fraudster pleads guilty
Darrin Hopkins admits he lured high schoolers to steal more than $150,000 from credit unions and a bank.
Darrin Hopkins, one of three men who ran the so-called “God Squad” social media group that deceived high school students to steal hundreds of thousands from credit unions and a bank in Oregon and Southwest Washington, will be sentenced in September after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
In U.S. District Court in Portland, Ore., on June 13, Hopkins, 22, admitted that he and two other men, Tyrann Chambers, 21 and Jaidan O’Neal, targeted students at Grant High School in Portland to deposit more than $150,000 in counterfeit checks at branches of the $1.4 billion Advantis Credit Union in Clackamas, Ore., the $871 million Rivermark Community Credit Union in Beaverton, Ore., the $24 billion Pentagon Federal Credit Union in McLean, Va., the $1.6 billion SELCO Community Credit Union in Eugene, Ore., the $1.1 billion IQ Credit Union in Vancouver, Wash., the $5.6 billion OnPoint Community Credit Union in Portland, Ore. and U.S. Bank.
Chambers and O’Neal have pleaded not guilty to bank fraud, conspiracy to commit bank fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Their jury trials are scheduled for August.
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