A woman who stole another person’s identity to become a naturalized citizen and get a job as a U.S. Postal Service letter carrier and an accomplice have been convicted of stealing the identities of dozens of people on her mail route out of Hiram, federal authorities said Friday.
A federal jury in Atlanta late Thursday returned guilty verdicts against the woman, Opeoluwa Adigun, age unknown, and Chukwuka Onyekaba, also known as Gabriel Onyekaba, 34.
The two Marietta residents were convicted of stealing the identities of more than 85 people in the Atlanta area and opening credit cards, loans and bank accounts in their names. Adigun also was convicted of immigration, Social Security and passport fraud.
“These defendants ran a sophisticated identity theft scheme that included opening multiple accounts in victims’ names, moving the criminal proceeds among different banks in victim names, using fake identifications, and buying ordinary gift cards with stolen credit cards to conceal the source of the proceeds,” U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates said in a news release.
“The jury’s verdict brings some measure of justice to the many victims of these two defendants’ crimes,” Yates said.
According to prosecutors and information presented at trial, between May 2006 and March 2010, Adigun and Onyekaba stole mail, credit cards and other personal information from area residents and opened a variety of financial accounts under the victims’ names.
As part of the scheme, Adigun – who previously had assumed the name of another person in Nigeria, Mary Afolabi, to enter the United States in 2004, obtain a Social Security card and U.S. passport and, in March 2009, become a naturalized citizen – got herself hired by the Hiram Post Office.
More than 85 people on her mail route subsequently reported that their identities had been stolen and multiple financial accounts were opened in their names.
Using information stolen from postal customers, Adigun and Onyekaba applied for credit cards and bank loans in their victims’ names; deposited loan proceeds into bank accounts opened under other victims’ names; and wrote checks from those accounts to two fraudulent businesses, GMO Auto Services in Douglasville and Gabmike Limousine Service in Smyrna.
They also used fraudulent credit cards at their businesses and to buy gift cards and thousands of dollars of merchandise.
In March 2010, law enforcement officers stopped the defendants driving a Lincoln Navigator and found dozens of American Express, Wal-Mart and Target gift cards that were purchased with stolen credit cards issued to individuals living on Adigun’s mail route.
After a seven-day trial, a jury returned guilty verdicts on all 44 counts it considered. The charges carry maximum sentences ranging from 5 to 30 years in prison and fines of up to $1 million per offense. Also, the aggravated identity theft charge requires a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in addition to any other sentence imposed.
Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.
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