A Tacoma woman will be sentenced for aiding in bank fraud. Here’s what we know
A 33-year-old Tacoma woman was found guilty of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft after using her credit union employment to leak customer information with five co-conspirators and steal $345,000 in a bank fraud scheme.
Aneicia Ford was a contact center employee who helped customers with account issues from May to October 2022 at a western Washington credit union, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington.
In this role she had access to customers’ personal account information which she shared with the fraud ring’s organizer, 23-year-old Dangelo Roberts. He recruited four other co-conspirators via social media posts that advertised he could make false identification documents.
After receiving information from Ford, Roberts instructed the conspirators to impersonate bank customers with false IDs. The conspirators would then issue new debit cards and use them to withdraw money from the victims’ accounts at ATMs.
Prosecutors say Roberts coached conspirators to use customers’ funds to order cashier’s checks or postal money orders made payable to him or his associates.
Overall, the ploy stole about $345,014 from these accounts. The credit union has fully reimbursed the customers who lost money from the scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Roberts was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday and is ordered to pay $146,016 in restitution.
The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington accepted Ford’s guilty plea June 13. She faces a minimum two-year sentence due to abuse of trust and leadership role, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Her sentencing is scheduled for Dec. 4.
