HOWARD COUNTY, Md. — A former credit union member service representative has been sentenced to 54 months in federal prison, five years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution of $165,891.68 for his role in a scam that targeted members.
Jalen Craig McMillan, 30, used his position at a federal credit union to open accounts in the names of identity theft victims and conduct financial transactions, including opening loans, federal prosecutors said.
They declined to identify the credit union involved.
How it Worked
In addition to McMillan, and as CUToday.info reported earlier, as detailed at trial and in court documents, co-defendant Archie Paul and his co-conspirators obtained, possessed and used fake identities and the personal information of real people that Paul and co-defendant John Fitzgerald Washington used to make fake documents showing the personal information of the victims, but photographs of others, according to court documents.
Prosecutors said Paul, co-defendant Tiffany Rainel Williams and others then used the fake documents to impersonate the victims and, with the help of McMillan and others, opened credit union accounts and conducted financial transactions in their names, including making large withdrawals from the victims’ accounts, the prosecution said.
Additional Charges
In addition to conspiracy and bank fraud charges, McMillan was convicted of aggravated identity theft for providing the identifying information of a bank customer (credit union member) to Paul, knowing that it would be used in the fraud scheme, prosecutors noted.
Trial evidence proved that the conspirators intended to fraudulently obtain more than $400,000 from the bank and successfully defrauded the bank of more than $150,000, court documents indicate.
Other co-defendants had earlier entered guilty pleas.
Robber Sentenced to 10 Years
Separately, Francis White Lance, who was found guilty of using a semi-automatic rifle to rob the Lakota FCU in Kyle, S.D. in November of 2022, has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
According to prosecutors, during the robbery, White Lance fired the gun over the head of one of the tellers. He was arrested a short time later, and all but $100 of the money White Lance stole from the credit union was recovered by the FBI following his apprehension, according to prosecutors.
White Lance pleaded guilty to bank robbery and firearms charges in March, the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of South Dakota said.
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