Beverly Ellison
Deonte Kershaw
Frances Griffin
Meilee Diaz
Rhonda Ellison
Shanika Todd
Takeisha Martin
Posted on 09/29/2010 1:59:45 PM PDT by Responsibility2nd
USAA and San Antonio police said they uncovered a complicated scheme by a group of people that skimmed thousands of dollars from the financial firm's bank and two other banks over the past year.
Meilee Diaz, 25; Deonte Kershaw, 24; Rhonda Ellison, 27; Takeisha Martin, 30; Shanika Todd, 32; Frances Griffin, 36 and Beverly Ellison, 52, were arrested this week in connection with the scheme, according to Bexar County records.
Each of the seven faces one count of engaging in organized criminal activity with theft from $20,000 to $100,000.
Arrest warrant affidavits state Todd was one of two people who recruited the group's members to set up bank accounts with USAA Federal Savings Bank and then steal money from all three banks using a series of fraudulent deposits, checks and money orders.
Police could not immediately confirm if more arrests were expected and said investigators do not yet know the extent of the damage. But USAA suffered a loss of at least $15,000; Security Service Federal Credit Union lost at least $13,000; and Firstmark Credit lost at least $3,000, the affidavits state.
The group's members would write checks to each other and deposit the checks into each others' accounts, which would then bounce, the affidavits state.
A senior fraud investigator at USAA noticed that several new accounts were in default, the affidavit states, and began to investigate the suspicious activity.
USAA's chief security officer, Gary McAlum, said this type of fraud isn't something the financial institution typically experiences, but that employees are prepared to investigate in case it does.
“We have a very sophisticated set of tools that our analysts use to detect activity like this,” he said. “This case involved real people opening up real bank accounts and funding them over time with fraudulent deposits, and that's the sort of thing that starts to raise red flags.”
McAlum said about six analysts and investigators looked into the accounts and then notified SAPD in March, when USAA employees concluded fraudulent activity had been taking place.
When questioned by police, Todd allegedly said she was recruited by a man named “Mr. Reed” to open the accounts, but she couldn't give police the man's first name.
The seven people accused in the scheme were arrested without incident Tuesday and Wednesday, officials said.
“Takeisha “ used in sentence:
I Takeisha with your accusations.
I hope they were denied bail and get a speedy trial and trip for a looooooooonnng - looooooooonnng - looooooooonnng stay at a TX state prison.
Your basic kiting scheme... which went out of favor in the seventies, primarily because of the tools mentioned.
They must have found it in one of those dog-eared paperbacks they got from the used crime books store.
Stereotypes are created for a reason.
Does not take insurance or other forms of fraud lightly ... these doofuses (doofi?) picked the wrong bank to screw around with.
It is?
Where da white crackar??
I Takeisha wid dat.
Meilee Diaz, 25; Deonte Kershaw, 24; Rhonda Ellison, 27; Takeisha Martin, 30; Shanika Todd, 32....
pictures weren’t necessary.
It’s nice to see black and brown brothers and sisters working together. /s
If I was interested in pulling an elaborate bank scam, this crew is the first one I’d look up.
I’ll take Shanika with Rhonda’s hair!
You Deonte dare!
Elaborate bank scam? Um, no. Since getting caught was virtually guaranteed from the beginning, criminal masterminds these folks are not.
say that again and a Meilee will break out.
Good one :)
pictures weren’t necessary.
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Maybe not. But how often do we get to see some dude named Beverly?
And Frances? Seriesly. Is that an he/she/it?
I wonder if Frances would be willing to have my baby?
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