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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA 25-year-old Fishers woman has been sentenced to nearly five years in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to identity theft and defrauding banks of more than $115,000.
Arielle Wilkerson received a 57-month prison sentence and must serve four years of supervised release, United States Attorney Josh Minkler announced Wednesday.
Wilkerson admitted to using the identities of victims throughout the country to obtain new credit cards and take over current and other financial instruments to purchase gift cards, airline tickets, beauty products, clothing, food and other personal items.
Her fraud scheme started in 2012 and ended in March 2018.
At the sentencing hearing, the court deemed Wilkerson “a consumer’s worst nightmare,” Minkler said.
Investigators say Wilkerson obtained files over the internet containing personally identifiable information of hundreds of individuals, including names, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, phone numbers, credit card numbers, and bank account and routing numbers.
Wilkerson ran credit reports on some of the victims to identify the financial institutions at which they had accounts. She used the stolen identities at multiple banks to obtain credit cards in the name of the victim.
She used the cards to shop at stores in Fishers and Indianapolis, including at Target, Meijer, Lowes, Walgreens and Macys. She also purchased airline flights and hotel reservations.
In addition, investigators said, Wilkerson wired money from victim accounts to accounts she controlled.
Banks suffered losses totaling at least $115,360.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and members of the Indiana Financial Fraud and Identity Theft Task Force.
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