FORMER BROWARD TEACHER PLEADS GUILTY TO IDENTITY THEFT
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and Henry Gutierrez, Postal Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, announced today that defendant Sheyla Diaz, 44, of Pembroke Pines, Florida, pled guilty on Friday, May 7, 2010, to one count of identity theft, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028(a)(7). Sentencing has been scheduled for July 23, 2010 before U.S. District Court Judge James I. Cohn. At sentencing, Diaz faces a possible statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison.
According to court documents and statements made during the plea hearing, Sheyla Diaz was a teacher at Monarch High School in Coconut Creek, Florida. From about June 6, 2008 to July 10, 2008, Diaz abused her position as a teacher to unlawfully obtain personal identifying information, including the names, social security numbers, and dates of births of at least six previous students at either Monarch High School or Plantation High School, in Broward County. Diaz then used this information to fraudulently apply for credit cards that she intended to use for her personal benefit. In total, Sheyla Diaz either opened or tried to open 17 fraudulent credit card accounts using the stolen personal identifying information.
Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Anton.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
