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Former New York Federal Employee and His Brother Arrested for Stealing Identities to Obtain Fraudulent Loans
LEV L. DASSIN, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, JOSEPH M. DEMAREST JR., Assistant Director-in-Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and RONALD J. VERROCHIO, Inspector-in- Charge of the New York Division of the United States Postal Inspection Service ("USPIS"), announced the arrests this morning of CURTIS L. WILTSHIRE for obtaining student loans using stolen identities, and of his brother KENNETH WILTSHIRE for attempting to obtain a loan to purchase a boat using stolen identities.
According to separate Complaints filed in Manhattan federal court:
CURTIS L. WILTSHIRE previously worked as an information/technical analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (the "FRB-NY") in lower Manhattan. In that capacity he had access to information about FRB-NY employees, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers and photographs. In February 2009 a FRB-NY investigator examined a thumb drive (a portable data storage medium) that was attached to CURTIS WILTSHIRE’s computer at the FRB-NY. The thumb drive contained applications dating from late 2006 for two student loans, totaling approximately $73,000, in the names of two other people whose identities had been used without permission. The search also revealed a fraudulent driver's license that contained a picture of an employee of the FRB-NY, who is not the person identified in the driver's license.
Separately, following the trail of certain loans that had been obtained with fraudulent documentation, a USPIS Inspector was led to a mailbox at a commercial mail receiving agency in Jersey City, New Jersey. The mailbox had been opened with a phony driver’s license bearing the picture of a current or former FRB-NY employee, and was being used by KENNETH WILTSHIRE to receive documents for a boat loan in the name of a person whose identity was being used without permission. A phony driver’s license with the picture of another FRB-NY employee was also used in connection with the boat loan application, as well as a fake income tax return in the name of a Fed employee. The Postal Inspector was able to follow KENNETH WILTSHIRE from the mail receiving agency through the Holland Tunnel into New York and to observe him purchasing postal money orders that were mailed to the boat loan company in the name of the individual who was purportedly seeking the loan.
CURTIS L. WILTSHIRE, 34, resides in Staten Island, New York. He is charged with one count of bank fraud, one count of fraud in connection with identification documents, and one count of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison on the bank fraud charge and 15 years in prison on the fraud in connection with identification documents charge; the aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison which must be consecutive to whatever sentence is imposed on the other charges. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
KENNETH WILTSHIRE, 40, resides in Brooklyn, New York. He is charged with one count of mail fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on the mail fraud charge; the aggravated identity theft charge carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 2 years in prison which must be consecutive to whatever sentence is imposed on the other charge. Each charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.
CURTIS L. WILTSHIRE and KENNETH WILTSHIRE will be presented later today in Manhattan federal court before United States Magistrate Judge KEVIN NATHANIEL FOX.
Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the FBI
and the USPIS. Mr. DASSIN thanked the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for its assistance in the investigation, which he said is continuing.
The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being handled by the Major Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney's Office. Assistant United States Attorneys DANIEL W. LEVY and ZACHARY FEINGOLD are in charge of these prosecutions.
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