Charmaine Miesha Brown, Passport and Bankruptcy Fraud, Maryland 2021

Local Woman Convicted of Passport and Bankruptcy Fraud

Greenbelt, Maryland - In a shocking turn of events, a federal jury has convicted 45-year-old Charmaine Miesha Brown of Lusby, Maryland, for conspiracies to commit passport fraud and wire fraud, as well as bankruptcy fraud, and making a false statement in bankruptcy proceedings.

The guilty verdict was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Erek L. Barron; Special Agent in Charge Karen L. Brown Cleveland of the U.S. Department of the State’s Diplomatic Security Service, Washington Field Office; Special Agent in Charge Colleen Lawlor of the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General, Philadelphia Field Division; and Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari of the Department of Homeland Security.

According to trial testimony, Brown, a United States citizen, married Andrews Oduro Brown, a Ghanaian national who entered the United States in May 2013. In 2021, Oduro obtained legal permanent resident status in the United States through his marriage to Brown.

From December 2014 through April 2021, Brown and Oduro conspired to obtain United States passports for Oduro’s children, who were non-United States citizens, through false statements and fraudulent identity documents. The evidence established that Brown submitted an application for a passport in the name of her child, Child C, who is a U.S. citizen, but bearing the photograph of Oduro’s child, Child A, who was born in Ghana and is not a U.S. citizen.

The trial evidence also proved that from August 2016 through April 2021, Brown and Oduro conspired to receive payments from the state of Maryland’s Child Care Scholarship Program to which they were not entitled. Brown falsely reported to the state of Maryland that a friend, Individual 1, was watching her children.

Finally, according to trial testimony and court documents, on March 5, 2018, Brown and Oduro defrauded creditors and the bankruptcy trustee, by filing a fraudulent Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Maryland, using the name and partial social security number of Individual 1, seeking the discharge of thousands of dollars in debts and tax obligations to the state of Maryland that Oduro incurred using the name and PII of Individual 1.

Charmaine Miesha Brown, age 45, was convicted of conspiracies to commit passport fraud and wire fraud, as well as bankruptcy fraud, and making a false statement in bankruptcy proceedings. The exact criminal charges are not specified in the article, but they can be inferred from the text. The city and state are Greenbelt, Maryland, and the exact date is not specified.

The article does not mention a specific sentence or outcome for Charmaine Miesha Brown. It only mentions that she was convicted by a federal jury.

There are no dollar amounts mentioned in the article.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-md/pr/maryland-woman-convicted-after-five-day-trial-series-fraud-schemes-including-passport