Eric Delonte Wiggins, age 25, of Temple Hills, Maryland was sentenced last week to 45 months in prison, followed by 5 years of supervised release for crimes arising from a conspiracy to defraud Bank of America by fraudulently withdrawing funds from bank accounts opened in California at bank branches located in Maryland, Virginia and Florida. U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow also ordered $268,930 in restitution.

According to the statement of facts presented at his September 15, 2006 guilty plea in which Wiggins pled guilty to conspiracy, bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, from September 2004 through May 2005, co-conspirators provided Wiggins with fraudulent driver’s licenses, military identifications and other identity documents in the name of Bank of America account holders in California, bearing Wiggins’s photograph. 

Wiggins, who was generally accompanied by another co- conspirator, then used the fraudulent identifications to withdraw funds at Bank of America locations in Maryland, Virginia and Florida.  For example, from September 2004 through March 2005, Wiggins used the fraudulent identification of five individuals to access their accounts through several Bank of American branch offices and withdraw a total of $54,706.  During the conspiracy, Wiggins and other co-conspirators withdrew a total of $268,930 from Bank of America accounts using fraudulent means of identification.  Members of the conspiracy gave Wiggins $20,000 for his participation in the conspiracy.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked U.S. Secret Service and the Department of the Treasury, Office of the Inspector General for their investigative work performed in this case.  Mr. Rosenstein also praised Assistant United States Attorneys Barbara Skalla and Michele Sartori, who prosecuted the case.