TACOMA, Wash. — Six people have been charged in a scheme to steal $345,000 from a credit union here.
The credit union allegedly targeted was not identified in a statement from, U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman.
According to the U.S. attorney, one of the suspects, 31-year-old Aneicia Ford, has been accused of stealing account information while she was working for the credit union. That information was then allegedly given to others who took over the accounts and stole funds.
Ford worked as a member service representative out of her Tacoma home between May and October 2022 and, using her access, she allegedly passed personal information on to Dangelo Roberts, 21, who used it to steal from accounts, the indictment said.
Case documents allege Roberts tried to recruit people to access victims’ accounts on social media, where he also advertised that he could make false ID materials.
Others Charged
Others charged in the case are:
- Shanna Carter-Zanders, 42 of Auburn
- Kohrey Lee Bridges, 22, of Tumwater
- Anthony McQueen, 36, of Seattle
- Meghan Frazier, 21, of University Place
According to the U.S. Attorney, the charges include conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identify theft.
How Scheme Allegedly Worked
Ford is charged in every count in the indictment; all six are charged with conspiracy, and different defendants are charged with individual counts of bank fraud and/or aggravated identity theft.
“Using the stolen account information, the conspirators obtained false IDs and used them to get debit cards and to make withdrawals from the victims’ accounts, often at the credit union’s branches,” the U.S. Attorney said in a statement. “After obtaining increases to the ATM withdrawal limits, the conspirators obtained as much as $25,000 in cash. The conspirators would also spend victims’ funds by ordering cashier’s checks or purchasing postal money orders that they made payable to other conspirators or their associates. They used their illegal access to transfer money between accounts and check balances on accounts.”
A total of about $345,014 was stolen from the credit union accounts. All members who were victims in the case were reimbursed by the credit union.