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RALEIGH, N.C. – A brazen scheme to defraud financial institutions and other lenders has come to an end with the guilty pleas of three individuals.
Shawn Franklin, 48, Anthony Maryland, 48, and Sabrina Wiggins Branch, 39, pleaded guilty today to Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud and other charges related to the use of synthetic identities to obtain credit cards and consumer loans with no intention of payment.
According to court documents and the government’s factual representations in open court, Franklin began using synthetic identities in 2012. By coupling his own name and date of birth with a nine-digit number that looked like a social security number, Franklin created a new credit profile, otherwise known as a Credit Privacy Number (CPN). Individuals, like Franklin, with poor credit scores built fresh credit histories by adding a CPN as an authorized user to credit accounts belonging to other individuals with good credit scores.
Franklin, a former NC Medicaid provider, used the names and SSNs of ten NC Medicaid recipients to obtain credit. He obtained fictitious NC driver’s licenses in these individuals’ names, bearing images of himself. With respect to credit cards, Franklin maximized the fraud proceeds by making bogus payments to the issuers. Such payments were immediately credited, restoring the credit limit. Before the credit issuer received notification that the payments were bogus, Franklin and others quickly made additional charges, resulting in significant losses.
Maryland and Branch used synthetic identities created in their own names by Franklin. Maryland obtained credit cards and consumer goods, while Wiggins obtained credit cards and financed the purchase of two vehicles with CPNs. Branch also conspired with Franklin to generate cash with the fraudulently obtained credit cards. They ran approximately $650,000 in fictitious charges through merchant accounts associated with her retail store in Wilmington’s Independence Mall. Branch paid Franklin his share of the proceeds in cash.
Franklin also pleaded guilty to Aggravated Identity Theft for his use of the names and personal identifiers of ten NC Medicaid recipients. He faces an additional mandatory two years in prison, consecutive to any other term imposed. All three individuals face a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison when sentenced.
G. Norman Acker, III, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, made the announcement after Magistrate Judge James E. Gates accepted the plea. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, United States Secret Service, United States Social Security Administration, and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation are investigating the case.
Defendant Information:
Defendant: Shawn Franklin
Criminal Charges: Conspiracy to Commit Bank and Wire Fraud, Aggravated Identity Theft
City and State: Raleigh, North Carolina
Exact Date: today
Sentence or Outcome: facing a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and an additional mandatory two years in prison for Aggravated Identity Theft
Dollar Amounts: none
Key Facts
- State: North Carolina
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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