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Press Release

Clifton Park Woman Pleads Guilty to Social Security Number Scheme

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of New York

ALBANY, NEW YORK - Kristin M. Kitchen, also known as Kristin M. Vargas, age 33, of Clifton Park, New York, pled guilty today to conspiring with others to sell stolen Social Security Numbers (SSNs) over the internet and to providing a false SSN on a loan application.

 

The announcement was made by United States Attorney Grant C. Jaquith; Patricia Tarasca, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of the Inspector General, New York Region; and John F. Grasso, Special Agent in Charge of the Social Security Administration (SSA) Office of the Inspector General, New York Field Office.

 

As part of her plea, Kitchen admitted to owning and operating a website in 2013 and 2014 through which she sold stolen SSNs.  Kitchen advertised these stolen SSNs as “credit profile numbers” and encouraged her customers to use these SSNs in place of their own on credit and loan applications, as a way for customers to avoid their own negative credit histories.  Kitchen further admitted to using one of these stolen SSNs herself on applications for a loan in 2014.

 

Kitchen faces up to 30 years in prison, up to 5 years of post-imprisonment supervised release and a maximum $250,000 fine when she is sentenced on May 14, 2018 by Senior United States District Judge Thomas J. McAvoy.  A defendant’s sentence is imposed by a judge based on the particular statute the defendant is charged with violating, the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, and other factors.

 

This case was investigated by the FDIC Office of the Inspector General and the SSA Office of the Inspector General, and is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason W. White.

Updated January 10, 2018

Topic
Financial Fraud