Fresno Woman Sentenced to 34 Months in Prison for Role in Two Fraud Schemes

FRESNO, Calif. — Sarah Jo Sumpter, 30, of Fresno, was sentenced today to two years and 10 months in prison and ordered to pay $16,984 in restitution for mail fraud, bank fraud, and aggravated identity theft, U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert announced.

According to court documents, Sumpter stole mail from a number of locations in California and used the stolen mail to commit multiple identity theft related fraud schemes. One of these schemes involved Sumpter stealing a victim’s driver’s license and impersonating the victim in order to purchase a vehicle. Another scheme involved Sumpter depositing stolen checks into victim accounts and then withdrawing funds from the accounts without the victim’s consent.

This case was the product of an investigation by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the Madera County Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Alexandre Dempsey and Henry Z. Carbajal III prosecuted the case.