Northeast Iowa Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Mail Fraud

A woman who agreed to mail counterfeit money orders as part of a scheme to defraud people across the country, pled guilty today in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

Shirley Hills, age 51, from Oelwein, Iowa, was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud.

In a plea agreement, Hills admitted that, in March 2013, United States Postal Service investigators discovered she was sending counterfeit money orders and checks through the mail.  When investigators confronted Hills and advised her that the money orders were counterfeit, Hills claimed she was sending them as part of a job she found on the Internet.  Hills told Postal investigators she would no longer continue this practice. However, Hills further admitted in her plea agreement that, beginning in October 2013, she again started mailing counterfeit money orders to people throughout the country as part of a scheme to defraud them.  She admitted the scheme involved informing these people they had been selected as “Mystery Shoppers” and should cash the money orders and then wire funds to other people designated in the instructions accompanying the counterfeit money orders.  Hills admitted that, in October and November 2013, she attempted to mail $170,164.50 worth of counterfeit money orders and that, in May 2014, she also attempted to mail a package containing $401,220.60 worth of counterfeit money orders.     

Sentencing before United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade will be set after a presentence report is prepared.  Hills remains free on conditions of release set by the court pending sentencing.  She faces a possible maximum sentence of twenty years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, a $100 special assessment, and three years of supervised release following any imprisonment.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and was investigated by the United States Postal Service.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov.  The case file number is 15-CR-2034.

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