Ohio Woman Sentenced to Prison for Federal Fraud Crimes

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – Laura Danielle Jackson, 33, of Gallipolis, Ohio, was sentenced today to three years and two months in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay $26,074.13 in restitution for two counts of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents and statements made in court, on or about September 17, 2018, Jackson was working at a South Charleston, West Virginia, human resources business when she obtained the personal identification information of an individual who applied for employment there. Between September 18, 2018, and September 27, 2018, Jackson applied for and received two separate credit cards with this individual’s stolen information and had the fraudulent credit cards mailed to her residence in Hurricane, West Virginia, where she was living at the time. Jackson admitted that she activated the cards and purchased $10,626.70 in goods, merchandise and other items of value with them.

Jackson further admitted to committing additional fraudulent acts both before and after her employment with the South Charleston business. Jackson obtained at least $15,447.43 through these additional fraudulent acts.

On or about January 8, 2018, Jackson began working at a Milton, West Virginia, coal company and had access to a company credit card that was to be used solely for business-related expenses. Jackson admitted to making $4,451.88 in personal purchases, buying items including an Apple iPad, a Nintendo Switch and an Apple iWatch, and paying for an April 2018 family vacation to St. Charles, Missouri, with the company credit card. Jackson further admitted to lying about the vacation to the coal company. Jackson told her employer she had been unable to attend work because of a medical emergency, and Jackson provided a forged medical record to support her lie. The coal company fired Jackson in June 2018.

In October 2018, Jackson was hired by a St. Albans, West Virginia, insurance company as a human resources generalist. Jackson admitted that she used her position to access the personal identification information of at least five insurance company employees and attempted to apply for credit cards in their names. On or about December 5, 2018, Jackson received a credit card at her Hurricane residence that she had applied for in the name of an insurance company employee without the employee’s permission or authorization. Jackson admitted to buying $2,878.55 worth of goods and merchandise with the credit card.

After the insurance company learned of Jackson’s arrest for defrauding the Milton coal company, Jackson falsely told the insurance company that she had been wrongly accused. Jackson provided the insurance company with forged documents that purported to show that the court cases against her had been dismissed and that she had received a settlement from the coal company because of false accusations against her. The insurance company fired Jackson on February 15, 2019.

On or about January 13, 2020, a Cross Lanes, West Virginia, tax firm hired Jackson to perform accounting, bookkeeping, payroll and tax-related services for its clients. Jackson admitted that she accessed the payroll records for one tax firm client and added a fake employee to the client’s payroll. Jackson used her ex-husband’s Social Security number without his permission or authorization to create the fake employee. On October 16, 2020, the client deposited the fake employee’s paycheck in the amount of $1,067 into Jackson’s bank account.

Jackson further admitted to defrauding a church that was another client of the tax firm. Beginning in September 2020 through December 2020, Jackson wrote at least $7,050 worth of checks payable from the church to herself and cashed them at branches of a bank in Kanawha County, West Virginia. Jackson manipulated the church’s bookkeeping information to conceal her fraud.

United States Attorney Will Thompson made the announcement and commended the investigative work of the United States Secret Service, the South Charleston Police Department, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Department and the West Virginia State Police.

United States District Judge Robert C. Chambers imposed the sentence. Assistant United States Attorneys Ryan Blackwell and Holly Wilson prosecuted the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of West Virginia. Related court documents and information can be found on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:22-cr-16.

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