ABINGDON, Va. - A Clay City, Kentucky woman, who along with two other individuals stole checks and identification documents and committed bank fraud and aggravated identify theft, was sentenced on Thursday to 39 months in federal prison.
Anica Maire Santiago, 34, pleaded guilty in May 2021 to one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. Co-defendants Cregg Mitchell-Feazell and Patricia Butcher have both pleaded guilty and will be sentenced next month.
According to court documents, on May 24, 2020, at the Iron Furnace Trailhead in Lee County, members of the conspiracy broke into several vehicles and stole personal items, including identification documents, Social Security cards, and personal checks. Four days later, the defendants 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 several 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.
Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Bubar of the Western District of Virginia made the announcement.
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 investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Whit D. Pierce and Randy Ramseyer prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
