Two North Miami residents were each sentenced to spend more than seven years in jail by a federal judge this week and two others will be sentenced in March for an identity theft scheme that netted personal information from 380 victims.
U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro sentenced 34-year-old Willie Smith and 28-year-old Lloyd Scott each to 94 months’ in jail. Thirty-nine-year-old Naomie Maitre and 42-year-old Daryl Pugh are scheduled to be sentenced at 11 a.m. on March 27 by Ungaro, according to federal officials.
A fifth person, 35-year-old Christopher Simpson, was also indicted in the scheme but he remains a fugitive, according to federal officials.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
In all, more than 380 people have had their personal identification information stolen from parked vehicles. The information was then used to carry out identity-related fraud schemes.
The stolen property included purses, sunglasses, cellular telephones, credit cards, debit cards, social security cards, legal permanent resident cards, health insurance cards, Florida bar cards and passports.
Federal officials sayd that Smith, Pugh and Scott pleaded guilty for their participation in the identity theft and fraud conspiracy, while Maitre was convicted by a jury on Jan. 13 of related federal offenses.
The defendants conspired to break into vehicles parked at gas stations, day care centers, and churches, according to federal officials.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Cary O. Aronovitz and Daya Nathan.
