Last Conspirator of Fraud Ring Targeting PenFed Members Sentenced to Prison

A federal judge sentenced a North Carolina woman to 54 months in prison for her role in a 13-person fraud ring that stole more than $430,000 from members of the $36.6 billion Pentagon Federal Credit Union in McLean, Va.

Ericka Andrea Monique Johnson, 28, of Fayetteville, was the last fraudster of the group to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle last week.

In addition to her sentence, she also was ordered to pay $62,118 in restitution, according to the U.S. Attorney’s for the Eastern District of North Carolina in Raleigh.

She pled guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft. In addition to PenFed, court documents showed USAA Federal Savings Bank and other financial institutions were defrauded when the coconspirators deposited more than $740,000 in rubber checks. Federal prosecutors did not report the amount of losses for USAA and did not identify the other financial institutions.

Johnson and 12 coconspirators organized and carried out a fraud scheme colloquially known as “card-cracking,” where they made phony check deposits, often via ATMs into checking accounts that were opened using the personal identifying information of unsuspecting member account holders. Although most of the criminal activity occurred in North Carolina, the fraudsters also perpetrated their card cracking scheme in Virginia, Maryland, South Carolina, Georgia, Delaware, New York and New Jersey from March 2018 to June 2020.

After depositing the phony checks, Johnson and others made point of sale purchases and cash withdrawals against the deposit credited and stole the funds using ATM/debit cards with associated personal identification numbers for the accounts they accessed during the “float” period before PenFed recognized the fraud.

The schemers deposited an estimated 640 rubber checks using the personal identity of at least 271 consumers, according to the indictment.

In addition to depositing fraudulent checks, Johnson possessed the personal identification information of at least 180 individuals. With those identities, the fraudsters opened or attempted to open 67 PenFed accounts, the indictment showed.

Moreover, the fraud ring attempted to use the personal identification information of members to obtain at least 10 loans worth more than $64,000, but PenFed declined those loan applications, prosecutors said.

Judge Boyle earlier rendered the following sentences and restitutions for 10 other conspirators: Jasma Tera McNeill (15 months, $77,712), Antreal Henderson (24 months, $35,480), Corionta Dominque Cooper (12 months, $32,245), Frederick Deshawn Johnson (60 months, $65,224), Robert Ahsamd Johnson (36 months, $16,345), Montague Aaron McMillian (24 months, $42,248), John Archie McNeill Jr. ( 11 months, $45,626), Stephan Antonio Johnson (54 months, $90,577), Malcolm Rasoul Sanchez (40 months, $98,599) and Johnathan Maurice Mack (22 months, $32,758).

Prosecutors dismissed charges against one accused coconspirator and another coconspirator died, court documents showed.