NORFOLK, Va. – Fairon Williams, 28, of Norfolk, Va., pleaded guilty today in Norfolk federal court to engaging in aggravated identity theft while working in a local medical office.

            Neil H. MacBride, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, made the announcement after Williams entered a guilty plea before United States Magistrate Judge Douglas E. Miller.  Williams faces a mandatory, maximum penalty of two years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when she is sentenced on August 13, 2012 by United States Senior District Judge Robert G. Doumar.

            According to court documents, during 2010 Williams worked as a phlebotomist for a medical office in Norfolk.   In February 2010, Williams met Christopher Moore at a local nightclub.  At the time, Moore conducted and led a scheme to defraud the Navy Federal Credit Union.  As part of this scheme, Moore, Darnell Barnwell, and others sought and obtained the identity information of others, without their knowledge, and then impersonated the victims when calling Navy Federal to find out whether the victims had accounts there.  If so, then Moore submitted online applications in the victims’ names seeking loans to buy used cars and motorcycles.  In fact, however, no vehicles were being bought and sold because Moore simply wanted to obtain the loan checks and cash out the proceeds for himself and his co-conspirators.  Moore also submitted online applications to open credit card accounts in the victims’ names and to obtain cash advances against such accounts.

            In February 2010, Moore solicited Williams and she agreed to assist him with the scheme.  Williams did so by supplying Moore with the identity information for approximately 14 patients from the medical office where she worked.  Also, at Moore’s request, Williams placed several calls to Navy Federal and impersonated an account holder while inquiring about the status of a loan application previously submitted by Moore.  After receiving identity information from Williams, Moore used it to successfully obtain $131,100 in fraudulent loans and cash advances from Navy Federal in the identity theft victims’ names.
Moore and Barnwell were previously charged and convicted in federal court for their roles in the scheme and are serving sentences of 102 and 56 months, respectively.

            This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, and the Newport News Police Department.  Assistant United States Attorney Robert Krask is prosecuting the case on behalf of the United States.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.justice.gov/usao/vae.  Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia at http://www.vaed.uscourts.gov or on https://pcl.uscourts.gov.

 

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