Seminole County Resident Pleads Guilty To Money Laundering And Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud

MUSKOGEE, OKLAHOMA – The United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Oklahoma announced that Rachel Leah Sitton, a/k/a Rachel L. Sitton, a/k/a Rachel Sitton, a/k/a Rachel Leah Chesser, a/k/a Rachel Chesser, age 42, of Konawa, Oklahoma, entered a guilty plea to one count of Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, punishable by a term of up to 30 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine, and one count of Money Laundering, punishable by a term of up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The Indictment alleged that from in or about January 2021, and continuing through in or about March 2021, Sitton agreed and conspired to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and to obtain money and property by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises, through wire communications in interstate commerce, certain signals and sounds for the purpose of executing a scheme and artifice to defraud Customers Bank and the Small Business Administration.

The Indictment further alleged that on or about March 18, 2021, Sitton knowingly engaged in a monetary transaction in criminally derived property of a value greater than $10,000.00, that is a cashier’s check in the amount of $20,000.00 in U.S. currency, derived from the specified unlawful activity of Wire Fraud.

The charges arose from an investigation by IRS-Criminal Investigations, the U.S. Secret Service, and the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics.

The Honorable Gerald L. Jackson, Magistrate Judge in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Oklahoma, accepted the plea and ordered the completion of a presentence investigation report.

A U.S. District Court Judge will determine the sentence to be imposed after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors. 
Sitton is released on bond with conditions pending sentencing.

Assistant U.S. Attorney T. Cameron McEwen represented the United States.