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BOSTON -- (September 15, 2006) A former nurses assistant and three of her relatives have pleaded guilty to charges of Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft in connection with their theft of hospital patients' personal identity information that they used to fraudulently obtain mortgage loan proceeds.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; Peter Zegarac, Postal Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service in New England; and Colonel Mark F. Delaney, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, announced today that FRANTCZIA PIERRE, age 26, of Everett, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William Young to one count of Bank Fraud and one count of Aggravated Identity Theft. Additionally, on Friday, September 8, 2006, CHARLOTINE "SHEILA" PIERRE, age 27, DOTTY PIERRE, age 26, and PROVILON DUVERGE, age 29, all of Saugus, also pleaded guilty before Judge Young; CHARLOTINE PIERRE and DUVERGE to one count each of Bank Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft, and DOTTY PIERRE to two counts of Bank Fraud and two counts of Aggravated Identity Theft.
At the plea hearings, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the Government's evidence would have proven that DOTTY PIERRE worked as a nurses assistant at a hospital in Massachusetts. In this position, she had access to patient files, which she used to obtain the names, social security numbers and other identifying information of her patients. DOTTY PIERRE working with her sister, CHARLOTINE PIERRE DUVERGE, used this information to create fraudulent identification documents. They, or others working with them, then, without the victims' knowledge or permission, posed as the identity fraud victims, and obtained mortgages to purchase properties in Massachusetts that they controlled but that were owned in the names of the identity fraud victims. The defendants controlled these properties, defaulted on the mortgages, and then repurchased the properties using a different person's identity information, creating the false impression to the bank that the properties were being sold in arms-length transactions.
In one instance, DUVERGE, CHARLOTINE PIERRE's husband, participated in attempting to obtain a mortgage for a property by posing as the husband of FRANTCZIA PIERRE, who was posing as the identity fraud victim. FRANTCZIA PIERRE is CHARLOTINE and DOTTY PIERRE's cousin.
Judge Young scheduled sentencing for FRANTCZIA PIERRE on December 13, 2006. Sentencing for CHARLOTINE PIERRE, DOTTY PIERRE, and DUVERGE is scheduled for January 30, 2007. Each defendant faces up to 30 years' imprisonment, to be followed by 5 years of supervised release, and a $1 million fine for the bank fraud charges, and a mandatory additional 2 years' imprisonment for the Aggravated Identity Theft charges.
The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Postal Inspection Service, and the Massachusetts State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Seth P. Berman in Sullivan's Computer Crimes Unit.
SOURCE: U.S. Attorney
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