Tonya Denise Jackson, 45, from Stockton, California, was indicted today by a federal grand jury for conspiring to defraud, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.

According to the indictment, Jackson conspired with Michael Ronell Ussery, Jr., to defraud a federal inmate confined in southern Illinois. Through his association with a federal inmate, Ussery solicited money and personal identifiers from “FB,” another federal inmate, by making false representations that if FB provided funds to pay for Drug Enforcement Administration (“DEA”) operations, that FB would receive a reduction in his sentence for his cooperation. Jackson is alleged to have conspired in the scheme to defraud FB of $145,000 stolen from FB’s Charles Schwab account. Jackson then moved the stolen money through her own numerous bank accounts.

Ussery pled guilty to charges of conspiracy to defraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud. The district court sentenced Ussery to 61 months’ imprisonment. Another related co-conspirator Catherine Sims pled guilty to the charge of conspiracy to defraud, and was sentenced to one year and one day in prison.

The Jackson charges carry a maximum penalty of 5 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, and not more than 3 years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by agents of the United States Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General and the United States Postal Inspection Service.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Liam Coonan.

An indictment is a formal charge against a defendant. Under the law, a defendant is presumed to be innocent of a charge and is entitled to a fair trial at which the Government must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Return to Top