Leader of bank fraud ring, who conspired with insider to drain accounts, sentenced to three years in prison

Seattle – The organizer of a conspiracy to commit bank fraud to steal more than $345,000 from a western Washington credit union was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to three years in prison announced U.S. Attorney Charles Neil Floyd. Dangelo Roberts, 23, advertised on social media that he could make false identification materials and recruited co-schemers to access victims’ accounts. At the sentencing hearing, Judge Jamal N. Whitehead said, “What you did was serious… It caused real financial harm.”

According to records filed in the case, Roberts used credit union information stolen by defendant Aneicia Ford, 33, of Tacoma.  Ford used her brief employment with the credit union to steal account information of credit union customers so that conspirators could take over the accounts and steal the funds.  The credit union has fully reimbursed customers who lost money to the co-schemers.

Between May and October 2022, Ford worked out of her Tacoma home as a contact center employee who helped customers with account issues.  In that role, she had access to personally identifying information of customers of the credit union. 

Using the stolen account information, the conspirators obtained false IDs from Roberts and used them to get newly issued debit cards and to make withdrawals from the victims’ accounts, often at the credit union’s branches.  Roberts directed the coconspirators on how to impersonate the account holders and commit the fraud. For example, he instructed coconspirators obtain increases to the ATM withdrawal limits, and then the conspirators obtained as much as $25,000 in cash.  Roberts also coached the conspirators to spend victims’ funds by ordering cashier’s checks or purchasing postal money orders that were made payable to him, other conspirators, or their associates. 

In all, the scheme stole approximately $345,014 from the credit union accounts. Judge Whitehead determined Roberts was responsible for $146,016 in loss. He ordered Roberts to pay that amount in restitution.

Six people were charged in the scheme. Ford and Roberts face significant penalties, including a mandatory two-year minimum sentence, due to their abuse of trust and leadership role, respectively. Ford is scheduled for sentencing on December 4, 2025.

The case was investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG) and the FBI.

The case is being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Jessica M. Ly.