LONDON - The final member of a scheme, in which the defendants used other people’s identities to defraud a Leslie County bank out of hundreds of thousands of dollars, has been sentenced today to prison.
On Thursday, July 2, Nicole Lewis, 34, of Leslie County received two years in prison for aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Gregory F. Van Tatenhove had previously sentenced her co-defendants, Deborah Wilson, 53, and Theresa Bowling, 46, to 18 months and 42 months respectively, for their roles in the scheme. Judge Van Tatenhove ordered that all three defendants, together, pay $420,806.60 in restitution to Capitol Finance in Leslie County. Under federal law, all of them must serve at least 85 percent of their prison sentences.
According to court documents, in November 2008 and continuing to April 2009, Bowling, Lewis and Wilson illegally obtained copies of other people’s drivers’ licenses, dates of birth and social security numbers from various sources to apply for loans. Bowling and Lewis, who held management positions at a loan company called Capitol Finance, processed the loans as if they were legitimate and issued the checks for the fraudulent loans. Lewis and Bowling cashed the checks at Hyden Citizens Bank in Leslie County. All three defendants spilt the money and used it for their personal gain.
Kerry B. Harvey, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Craig Hutzell, Acting Special Agent in Charge, United States Secret Service, jointly announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by Secret Service. Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Sparks prosecuted this case on behalf of the federal government.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
