A woman on trial for allegedly participating in the so-called “Georgia Powers” identity theft scam has a history of swindling senior citizens, prosecutors told a DeKalb County jury.
Santee Sherice Roberts listened quietly Wednesday morning as DeKalb Assistant District Attorney Jeanne Canavan outlined an elaborate scheme purported to have reached nearly 200 people in metro Atlanta.
“These were people that drove around to elderly people, called them up on the phone, and lied to them to get them to give them their credit card numbers,” Canavan said.
Prosecutors say Roberts and two other people used a pre-paid cell phone registered under the name “Georgia Powers” to trick elderly customers of Georgia Power Co. to give their credit card information – or even actual credit cards – Social Security numbers and other personal information.
Prosecutors allege the scammers told the victims they were behind on their payments because a check they paid with had an incorrect date. And they told the victims that their power was to be cut off that day, prosecutors say.
Roberts, 36, is charged with violating the state’s racketeer influenced and corrupt organization (RICO) act, identity fraud, financial transaction fraud and elder exploitation.
Canavan said Roberts and her cohorts, Donald Crane and his mother Charlene Merkerson, used the phone to warn utility customers that their power would be shut off during the hottest parts of summer in 2009 if they didn’t make payments.
And she pleaded guilty in 2003 to doing the same thing in Michigan, Canavan said.
“You don’t get to call them up, lie to them, and make them afraid that their electricity was going to be turned off,” she said. “Especially in August.”
According to the indictment, some victims’ credit card and personal information was used to get cash advances or obtain credit cards, which were used at restaurants, hotels, ATMs or other retail locations, according to the indictment.
The trio used the phone book to identify potential victims, choosing people with first names like Merle, Edwina, Ina or Jasper, Canavan said.
“People with names from a more trusting generation,” she said. “Pretty clever.”
Roberts was arrested once, but escaped by feigning severe medical issues that caused police to send her to Grady Memorial Hospital where she simply walked out of an unsecured hospital room, prosecutors said.
Her attorney, Gerald Griggs, countered in his opening statement that there was nothing linking Roberts to any of this criminal activity.
“The evidence is going to show Ms. Roberts did not participate in any kind of RICO,” Griggs said. “The evidence is not going to show she fooled these people.”
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