Mykara Destiny Robinson, Bank Fraud, California 2023

LOS ANGELES – A South Los Angeles woman has pleaded guilty to her role in a massive bank fraud scheme that used stolen identities to obtain over $993,181 in state unemployment insurance benefits. Mykara Destiny Robinson, 24, of Los Angeles, who was charged under the incorrect name of “Mykara Destiny Robertson,” pleaded guilty today to one count of bank fraud.

According to the plea agreement, Robinson and her co-conspirators assumed the identities of California prison inmates and used EDD debit cards issued in their names to make fraudulent cash withdrawals of UI benefits, including pandemic benefits, from Bank of America ATMs in Los Angeles County. From August 2020 to October 2020, Robinson and her co-conspirators used 10 debit cards to withdraw a total of approximately $68,742 in fraudulently obtained EDD funds from ATMs in Southern California.

Robinson is the 13th and final defendant to plead guilty in this case, whose lead defendants are Natalie Le Demola, 38, originally of Corona and who currently is serving a life prison sentence after she was convicted in 2005 of first-degree murder, and Carleisha Neosha Plummer, 33, of Los Angeles, a close prison associate of Demola’s until her parole in July 2020.

Demola, Plummer, and other co-conspirators “would acquire the personal identifying information (PII), such as the names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers, of individuals, including identity theft victims, who were not eligible for UI benefits, including pandemic benefits, because they were employed, retired, or incarcerated,” according to a 39-count indictment returned in May 2022.

Members of the conspiracy then used the information to make fraudulent online applications for UI benefits from the California Employment Development Department (EDD). Once the applications were approved, members of the conspiracy received EDD-funded debit cards that allowed them to withdraw money from ATMs across Southern California.

Robinson will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison at her July 3 sentencing hearing. The case’s other defendants have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire and bank fraud, bank fraud, and/or aggravated identity theft based on their respective roles within the scheme. Most defendants will face a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in federal prison.

The investigation into this scheme was conducted by the Los Angeles El.

Related Federal Cases