Browns Sentencing
BATON ROUGE WOMEN SENTENCED FOR IDENTITY THEFT
BATON ROUGE, LA – United States Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr. announced that United States District Court Chief Judge Brian A. Jackson today sentenced TRACHELL NAKIA BROWN, 27, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. BROWN was convicted of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. TRACHELL BROWN was sentenced to a term of 27 months imprisonment for bank fraud and a consecutive sentence of 24 months imprisonment for aggravated identity theft for a total of 51 months in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons.
Previously on November 2, 2012, Judge Jackson sentenced co-defendant TREVIA LATOYA BROWN for convictions of bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. TREVIA BROWN, the sister of TRACHELL BROWN, was sentenced to a term of 24 months imprisonment for bank fraud and a consecutive sentence of 24 months imprisonment for aggravated identity theft for a total of 48 months in the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons.
The sisters were also sentenced to pay restitution of $148,935.71 to ten different financial institutions which lost money because of the sisters’ identity theft and scheme to defraud.
The BROWN sisters were convicted of executing a scheme to defraud beginning in January 2007 and continuing through January 2010. TRACHELL NAKIA BROWN and TREVIA LATOYA BROWN stole the identities of several area individuals and thereafter obtained unauthorized credit cards in the names of the victims. The defendants used the fraudulently obtained credit cards to make unauthorized purchases in excess of $148,000. The defendants created more than 20 unauthorized credit card accounts and defrauded at least 9 different federally insured financial institutions during a 3 year scheme to unlawfully enrich themselves.
U.S. Attorney Donald J. Cazayoux, Jr., stated, “This is a very serious case involving federal laws designed to prevent criminals from stealing and misusing the identities of law-abiding citizens. Such egregious abuse of our citizens and financial institutions will not be tolerated. We will do everything within our power to work with our law enforcement partners like the United States Postal Inspection Service to investigate those persons who attempt to profit from the good names and credit of the citizens of the Middle District of Louisiana.”
Postal Inspector-in-Charge Robert Wemyss stated, “When the mail is used to commit crimes like this, Postal Inspectors diligently pursue those responsible. People trust the mail, and it's our job to ensure that its integrity is protected.”
The convictions and sentences are the result of a lengthy investigation by agents of the United States Postal Inspection Service. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Rene Salomon and Shubhra Shivpuri.
