A 31-year-old Tacoma woman has been accused in a bank fraud scheme to steal $345,000 by using her employment with a western Washington credit union to access and share members' account information with five co-conspirators.
Aneicia Ford was working from home as a customer service employee between May and October 2022, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. In her role of helping members with account issues, she had access to personally identifying information that she allegedly passed on to Dangelo Roberts.
Prosecutors say Roberts, 21, allegedly stole from customer accounts with the information, advertised on social media that he could make false identification materials and sought to recruit others to access victims' accounts.
Four others charged in the scheme are accused of obtaining fake IDs with the stolen account information, allegedly using them to get debit cards and make withdrawals, often at the credit union's branches. The credit union is identified only as "victim credit union" in federal court documents. Records state the fraud scheme spanned King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
Customers who lost money to the scheme were fully reimbursed by the credit union, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
In one instance on May 17, 2022, Ford and a co-conspirator allegedly withdrew $25,000 in cash from a credit union member's account, according to court records. Later that month, Ford and another co-conspirator allegedly withdrew an additional $25,000 from a different victim's account.
Prosecutors said the conspirators also spent victims' funds by ordering cashier's checks or purchasing postal money orders that they made payable to other conspirators or their associates. They allegedly used their illegal access to transfer money between accounts and check balances.
Ford appeared via summons Thursday before Judge Brian A. Tsuchida in U.S. District Court in Seattle, according to court records. She pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft. She was released pending further proceedings, with certain release conditions.
Roberts was arrested July 26 when the indictment was unsealed, court records show. He pleaded not guilty the same day in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and two counts of aggravated identity theft. Judge Tsuchida ordered him released with conditions until his next court date.
The four others accused as co-conspirators are also charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud and varying numbers of identity theft offenses. Two of the defendants have so far pleaded not guilty to their charges, and the other two have yet to make a first court appearance.
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