Baltimore, Maryland - On Friday April 21, 2017, U.S. District Judge George L. Russell, III sentenced Yasmine Young, age 29, of Baltimore, Maryland to 66 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release for bank fraud and narcotics conspiracy. Judge Russell also ordered Young to pay $326,487.11 in restitution.
The sentence 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); and Chief J. Thomas Manger of the Montgomery County Police Department.
According to her plea agreement, from July 2014 through October 2014, while employed at a financial institution, Young used her employee access to target customer accounts with high dollar balances. Without permission and a business purpose, she printed screen shots of the account holders’ personal information and copies of checks that had previously been written and processed. Young provided these screen shots to co-schemers.
Using the screen shots provided by Young, co-schemers called into the financial institution’s banking system and were able to bypass the verification protocols. The co-schemers ordered checks from these accounts and forged them in order to cash them or deposit them into various accounts. The financial institution identified 22 victims, all of whom had high dollar balances and all of whom had fraudulent checks drawn on their accounts. The scheme has resulted in a loss to the financial institution of over $300,000.
While awaiting trial on this charge, from November 2015 through January 2016, Young and co-defendant Kaemarr Antonio Cox with others conspired to distribute marijuana. On Jan. 12, 2016, DEA in Maryland received information from DEA in San Diego, California regarding a suspicious United Parcel Service (UPS) parcel that was in route for an apartment in Windsor Mill, Maryland.
On Jan. 14, 2016, a detective interdicted the parcel where a narcotics dog alerted to the parcel for illegal narcotics. DEA found 11 pounds of marijuana inside. The parcel was repackaged and delivered by an undercover detective to Windsor Mill where Young accepted the package. Later that day DEA knocked and announced their presence at the door to execute a state search and seizure warrant. Young came to the front window, but did not open the door. Forced entry was made and members of the entry team took Young and Cox, the only subjects in the residence into custody.
Cox advised that the marijuana that was delivered was his. At the time, Young was on release post-indictment and pending trial on the federal fraud charges. Young’s release conditions required that she live in the Windsor Mill apartment where the search warrant was conducted and that she not commit any new crimes. Young subsequently had her release conditions violated, was detained in federal prison and pled guilty to fraud and aggravated identity theft charges in April 2016.
Cox pled guilty to narcotics conspiracy and brandishing a weapon in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Russell on July 14, 2017 at 9:30 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised HSI Baltimore, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Baltimore City Police Department, and the Montgomery County Police Department for their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorneys Lauren Perry and Sandra Wilkinson, who prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
