Baltimore, Maryland - Jasmine Young, age 28, of Windsor Mill, Maryland, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Jan. 31, 2017, to a narcotics conspiracy, which was committed while she was on pretrial release for federal bank fraud and identity theft charges.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge Andre R. Watson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); Assistant Special Agent in Charge Don A. Hibbert of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Baltimore District Office; Colonel William M. Pallozzi, Superintendent of the Maryland State Police; and Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department.
According to her plea agreement, from November 2015 through January 2016, Young conspired with others to distribute marijuana. Young was identified after a homicide in Baltimore that was related to the drug trafficking conspiracy. According to the plea agreement a woman was killed on Jan. 12, 2016, the same day an eight to 11 pound marijuana shipment was delivered to her residence. Also on Jan. 12, 2016, the DEA in Maryland received information from a DEA Narcotics Task Force operating in San Diego, California, that a suspicious package was in route to an address in Windsor Mill, Maryland, for delivery on Jan. 15, 2016. Law enforcement interdicted the package, which was addressed to Nancy Young, at Jasmine Young’s address. A narcotics dog alerted to the package for narcotics. After obtaining a search warrant, the package was found to contain 11 pounds of marijuana. DEA conducted a controlled delivery and the package was accepted by Jasmine Young. A short time later, DEA executed a search warrant at the residence and Young and a man were taken into custody.
From the apartment, law enforcement recovered: a.22 caliber handgun located in a black shoebox on top of the dryer, along with ammunition in multiple calibers and a 9mm magazine with live rounds; a loaded revolver located inside a black sectional couch (near where the man had his hands when police entered the apartment); a package of green plastic wrap containing marijuana (what was left in the parcel that was delivered to the residence by DEA); six cellular phones located in several locations throughout the home; and a large digital scale with residue located on the kitchen counter. The gun recovered from the couch was later determined to have been stolen on Jan. 28, 2015.
Young initially denied having any involvement in the drug conspiracy, but investigators recovered text messages from some of the recovered cellular phones that showed that Young was part of the conspiracy. Young and the woman who was murdered both allowed marijuana to be delivered to their residences.
As a result of Young’s arrest on narcotics charges, her pre-trial release in the bank fraud case was revoked and she was ordered to be detained.
On April 15, 2016, Young pleaded guilty to bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. Young admitted that from July 2014 through October 2014, she used her employment at a bank to obtain the personal information of customers. Specifically, Young admitted that she used her employee access to target customer accounts with high dollar balances. Once she accessed these accounts, she took “screen shots" of the account information, including the account holder’s personal information and copies of checks that had previously been written and processed. She then provided that information to co-schemers who used the information to fraudulently obtain and write checks drawn on the customers’ accounts. The bank identified 22 victims of the scheme, which resulted in a financial loss to the bank of over $300,000.
Young faces a sentence of five years in prison for the narcotics conspiracy and up to an additional 10 years’ imprisonment based on committing the offense while on pretrial release; a maximum of 30 years in prison for bank fraud; and two years in prison, consecutive to any other sentence imposed, for aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge George L. Russell III has scheduled sentencing for March 30, 2017 at 2:00 p.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein commended HSI Baltimore, the Maryland State Police, DEA, and Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren E. Perry and Sandra Wilkinson, who are prosecuting the cases.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
