ABINGDON, Va. - A group of three individuals have pleaded guilty to using stolen checks and identification documents to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
According to court documents, on May 24, 2020, at the Iron Furnace Trailhead in Lee County, Virginia, individuals broke into several vehicles and stole personal items, including identification documents, Social Security cards, and personal checks. Four days later, Anica Marie Santiago, 34, of Lexington, Kentucky, Cregg Mitchell-Feazell, 28, of Oakland Park, Florida, and Patricia Butcher, 31, of Clay City, Kentucky, took one of the stolen checks to a drive-through lane at a Commercial Bank in Newport, Tennessee. The check was fraudulently made out to one of the victims of the previously thefts. Butcher produced the fraudulent check and a stolen state-issued photo ID to the bank teller, who cashed the check for $935.
The group used the stolen checks and IDs at least three other times to cash fraudulent checks. These events were also part of a larger organized scheme involving other break-ins at other locations, other thefts of checkbooks and identification documents, and the cashing of other fraudulent checks.
All three defendants pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Sentencing hearings have been scheduled for June 3, 2021, July 22, 2021, and July 23, 2021 for Santiago, Mitchell-Feazell, and Butcher, respectively. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the National Park Service, with assistance from the Jacksboro, Tennessee Police Department, the Campbell County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office, the Fentress County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office, and the Cookeville, Tennessee Police Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Whit D. Pierce and Randy Ramseyer are prosecuting the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
