NEWS RELEASE SUMMARY – July 18, 2008
San Diego, CA – United States Attorney Karen P. Hewitt announced that Micah Bachman, also known as Tyler Jefferies, of Lake Forest, California, was sentenced today by the Honorable Dana M. Sabraw, United States District Judge in San Diego to serve 61 months in prison for bank fraud, false use of a social security account number, money laundering and aggravated identity theft in connection with a mortgage loan he obtained in August 2007. Mr. Bachman was indicted on March 11, 2008, arrested the following day and pleaded guilty to these charges on April 30, 2008. Mr. Bachman has been held without bail since his arrest.
According to Assistant U. S. Attorney Mitch Dembin, who prosecuted this case, Mr. Bachman admitted in connection with his guilty plea that he created the alter ego of “Tyler Jefferies” and built a credit profile for that identity based upon a social security number stolen from a child in Kentucky. Using the Jefferies identity, Bachman obtained credit cards and loans and made enough payments, by moving money between and among these accounts and other accounts, to manufacture a credit history and good credit rating for Jefferies. Bachman then obtained a primary mortgage loan and an equity line of credit in the total amount of $960,000 from Chase Bank and Flagstar Bank to purchase a residence in Lake Forest, California, through a mortgage broker in San Diego. All of the loans used to create the Jefferies identity and the mortgage loans are in default. Mr. Bachman also was ordered to pay $255,928.75 in restitution to all of the financial institutions that reported losses in connection with his scheme.
This case was investigated by Special Agents of the United States Secret Service, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division and Detectives of the San Diego Police Department under the auspices of the San Diego Regional Fraud Task Force.
DEFENDANT Case Number: 08cr0710-DMS
Micah Bachman aka Tyler Jefferies Lake Forest, California Age: 37
SUMMARY OF CHARGES
Counts 1, Title 18, United States Code, Section 1344 – Bank Fraud
Count 7, Title 42, United States Code, Section 408(a)(7)(B) – False Use of Social Security Number Counts 8, Title 18, United States Code, Section 1028A(a)(1) – Aggravated Identity Theft Count 12, Title 18, United States Code, Section 1956(a)(1)(A)(i) – Money Laundering
AGENCIES
U. S. Secret Service Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division
San Diego Police Department
