Niesha Nicole Jackson, Bank Fraud, California 2014

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a brazen case of bank fraud, a California woman has been sentenced to over 15 years in prison for her role in a credit card scheme that netted over $1 million in losses to 37 banks in 2007 and 2008.

Niesha Nicole Jackson, 35, was sentenced to 15 years and 7 months in prison by United States District Judge Kimberly Mueller for bank fraud and failure to appear for sentencing. Jackson had failed to appear for sentencing on the bank fraud conviction in 2011 and had been living as a fugitive until April 2014.

According to court documents, Jackson was part of a credit card scheme that operated from California, with runners sent to Alabama, Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Montana, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, and Texas to use prepaid credit cards at banks for cash advances. The scheme's organizers would mislead bank employees into believing that there were thousands of dollars available on the card, and then instruct them to make the transaction go through.

On July 30, 2009, a federal grand jury indicted Jackson on one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of bank fraud. Jackson pleaded guilty in March 2010, but then failed to appear at her sentencing.

While she was a fugitive, Jackson was featured on CNBC's program 'American Greed: The Fugitives' and labeled as the 'Bank Robbing Babe.' In April 2014, after receiving information that Jackson was in Fairfield, the Pacific Southwest Regional Fugitive Task Force, composed of U.S. Marshals and state and local agencies, set up surveillance and arrested her at a hotel.

At the time of her arrest, Jackson was found to be in possession of jewelry, a Cartier wristwatch, five pairs of luxury-brand shoes, 27 luxury-brand purses, and a T-shirt with 'BR Babe' printed on it.

At sentencing today, Jackson addressed the Court and said that she had panicked on the day of her sentencing, and while on the run, she knew that one day it 'would all come to an end.' Judge Mueller commented that in 2011, she had been inclined to impose a 10-year sentence on Jackson, but that today, a longer sentence was necessary to send a message to defendants who might think about absconding.

The judge said that even if Jackson had panicked on the day of sentencing, 'she had plenty of time to think about it.' Thus, the Court imposed an increased sentence of 12.5 years for the bank fraud and an additional, consecutive 3 years and 1 month for the charge of failure to appear.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edca/pr/former-fugitive-sentenced-over-15-years-prison-bank-fraud-and-failure-appear