Montgomery Woman Sentenced for Using Stolen Identities to Cash Bad Checks

       Montgomery, Ala. – On Wednesday, May 10, 2017, Luciana Mekele Jackson (40) of Montgomery, Alabama, was sentenced to 81 months in federal prison for wire fraud and identity theft, announced A. Clark Morris, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Alabama. Her prison sentence will be followed by 3 years of supervised release.

       According to court documents, Jackson carried out her identity theft scheme by traveling to various Wal-Mart store locations across central and east-central Alabama to cash fraudulent checks, some made out for more than one thousand dollars. Wal-Mart required a valid social security number (SSN) to be provided when checks were cashed in their stores, so Jackson resorted to using the SSN of others when cashing the bad checks. She would use a SSN until it became red-flagged, and then she would begin using the next victim’s information. By the time she was caught, Jackson had used the personal identity of 93 victims.

       Over the course of a nine month period, 367 fraudulent transactions were attempted by Jackson. Although the total amount of attempted transactions were well over $250,000.00, actual losses suffered by Wal-Mart were approximately $25,000.00.

       Jackson had previously been charged with similar crimes at the state level, including possession of a forged instrument and intentionally cashing worthless checks. Within two weeks of bonding out of jail for those charges, Jackson continued this scheme and was eventually arrested on federal charges. She still has state charges pending in Elmore County and Douglas County in Georgia.

       This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service, with assistance from the Certegy Check Services’ Fraud Department. Assistant United States Attorney Rand Neeley and Bradley Bodiford prosecuted the case.