LawFuel.com –
PREET BHARARA, United States Attorney for the Southern
District of New York, announced that KENNETH WILTSHIRE pleaded
guilty today in Manhattan federal court before United States
Magistrate Judge HENRY B. PITMAN to one count of mail fraud and
one count of aggravated identity theft in connection with his
having obtained boat loans using stolen identities.
According to the Superseding Information to which
WILTSHIRE pleaded guilty, the Complaint filed in connection with
this case, and statements made in court during today’s plea
proceeding:
From 2006 to 2008, WILTSHIRE used identities stolen
from, among other places, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
(“FRB-NY”) where his brother CURTIS WILTSHIRE worked, to obtain
loans to purchase boats. Following the trail of certain loans
that had been obtained with fraudulent documentation, a United
States Postal Inspection Service (“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 an FRB-NY employee, and was being
used by 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
FRB-NY employee. The Postal Inspector was able to follow
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. Over the
course of the scheme, WILTSHIRE sought more than 8 boat loans,
totaling over $900,000.
WILTSHIRE, 40, resides in Brooklyn, New York. On the
mail fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, respectively,
he faces a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison and a mandatory
minimum sentence of 2 years, which must be consecutive to the
sentence imposed on the mail fraud charge. In addition, the mail
fraud charge carries a maximum fine of $1 million and the
identity theft charge carries a maximum fine of $250,000 or twice
the gross gain or loss from the offense.
Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the USPIS. Mr. BHARARA
thanked the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for its assistance
in the investigation.
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.
09-299 ###
