Lauren Houck, Aggravated Identity Theft, Rhode Island 2021

PROVIDENCE, RI - A Maryland woman's lavish lifestyle was funded by stolen identities and forged checks, according to a guilty plea entered in U.S. District Court in Providence.

Lauren Houck, 31, of Abington, Maryland, admitted to the court that she used the stolen identity of a customer of a Maryland business where she was employed in June 2018 and stole blank checks from two businesses to fraudulently obtain money and services.

As part of her scheme, Houck rented a house in southern Rhode Island from November 2018 to December 2019, submitting three stolen checks totaling $14,000 as payment. Each check contained the forged signature of the person whose identity she stole.

The total amount of checks Houck forged totaled 83, with a value of over $291,400.

Houck pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft before U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith. She is scheduled to be sentenced on May 27, 2021.

Aggravated identity theft is punishable by a statutory mandatory term of imprisonment of two years in federal prison, a fine of up to $250,000, and a term of up to one year of federal supervised release.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Rhode Island State Police, and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Milind M. Shah.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ri/pr/maryland-woman-pleads-guilty-rhode-island-aggravated-identity-theft