BIRMINGHAM – A federal grand jury today indicted a Talladega man on identity theft and bank fraud charges for obtaining and using other people’s bank cards to withdraw money from their accounts, U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance and Postal Inspector Frank Dyer announced.

A four-count indictment filed in U.S. District Court charges BITTRELL RASHAUN SCOTT, 29, with two counts each of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.

“Identity theft crimes hurt the individual victims and the institutions where the culprits use the stolen identities,” Vance said. “We will prosecute the perpetrators of fraud to help honest Americans protect what they have worked hard to obtain.”

The indictment charges that, in April 2008, SCOTT unlawfully obtained two different Wachovia Bank ATM cards and used them to withdraw more than $6,000 from accounts of Wachovia Bank customers.

 Upon conviction, SCOTT faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine for each bank fraud charge, and could face an additional, mandatory two-year prison term for each count of aggravated identity theft.

This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Melissa K. Atwood is prosecuting this case.

This prosecution is part of President Barack Obama’s Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force. President Obama established the interagency task force to wage an aggressive, coordinated and proactive effort to investigate and prosecute financial crimes.  The task force includes representatives from a broad range of federal agencies, regulatory authorities, inspectors general, and state and local law enforcement who, working together, bring to bear a powerful array of criminal and civil enforcement resources. The task force is working to improve efforts across the federal executive branch, and with state and local partners, to investigate and prosecute significant financial crimes, ensure just and effective punishment for those who perpetrate financial crimes, combat discrimination in the lending and financial markets, and recover proceeds for victims of financial crimes.

Members of the public are reminded that the indictment contains only charges.  A defendant is presumed innocent of the charges and it will be the government’s burden to prove a defendant’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt at trial.

 

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