A state Department of Licensing employee was sentenced Thursday to two years in federal prison.
Having pleaded guilty helping make fraudulent identification cards, Melinda Kay Johnson sold state ID cards for $3,000 each to others engaged in a bank fraud scheme that cost Bank of America $1 million.
Between 2008 and 2010, various conspirators in the scheme obtained identification cards from Johnson in bogus names, and used the identities to open multiple bank accounts in Seattle and Bellevue, and in Las Vegas, Nev., according to a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement.
After the balances in the accounts were inflated with fraudulent deposits using forged checks, the fraudsters quickly used the debit cards to purchase hundreds of thousands of dollars of cigarettes at Sam’s Club stores in California. The cigarettes were then taken to a store in Hollywood, Calif., where they were sold for cash at a discounted price.
Johnson, a Department of Licensing employee of 10 years, sold at least nine of the cards, which were used to defraud the bank out of $200,000.
“Johnson grossly abused her position of public trust for her own personal gain,” Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kate Vaughan and Michael Scoville told the court. “Her acts eroded public confidence in the integrity of all public officials, damaging the public’s expectation that public servants will faithfully perform their duties and not seek bribes or behave corruptly.”
Other members of the bank fraud ring who were convicted at trial are scheduled to be sentenced later this month.
