DWAYNE ELLIS BAPTISTE, Retirement Account Theft, Alabama 2021

State: Alabama
Category: Fraud &#038; Financial Crimes
Source: <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndal/pr/texas-man-sentenced-six-years-prison-multiple-charges-stealing-dead-man-s-retirement" style="color:#cc0000;" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">DOJ Press Release ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Â Ã¢â‚¬â€

BIRMINGHAM, AL – A federal judge has sentenced a Texas man to six years and three months in prison for a scheme to steal more than $650,000 from a retirement account after the account owner and his designated beneficiary both died.

DWAYNE ELLIS BAPTISTE, 44, was sentenced on four counts of wire fraud, one count of mail fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. Baptiste pled guilty to the charges in February and is in the custody of U.S. Marshals.

According to court documents, Baptiste lived in Huntsville in 2011 and was acquainted with Ralph Swinehart, who along with his father, Ronald Swinehart, also lived in Huntsville. Ronald Swinehart was a retired employee of Lockheed Martin Corporation and had a retirement savings account through the company.

In September 2011, Ronald Swinehart signed and executed a durable power of attorney naming his son, Ralph Swinehart, as his agent. However, Baptiste carried out a scheme to divert the $678,309 in Ronald Swinehart’s retirement account to an account he controlled.

Baptiste filed a fraudulent power of attorney with the Madison County Probate Court in October 2011 appointing himself as Ronald Swinehart’s agent. He also created a company, Swinehart Investment Solutions, in which he fraudulently claimed Ronald and Ralph Swinehart — both deceased — were members.

Baptiste then contacted ING, pretending to be Ronald Swinehart, and received instructions on how to withdraw money from Ronald Swinehart’s retirement account. Baptiste used Ronald Swinehart’s name, Social Security number, and address in that process, committing mail fraud and aggravated identity theft.

U.S. Attorney Robert O. Posey described Baptiste’s actions as ‘exploiting the deaths of two people so he could steal a man’s life-long savings.’ The FBI investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorneys John B. Ward and Manu Balachandran prosecuted.

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