OXFORD - The ringleader of an identity theft scheme that included a person from Schlater will serve five years in federal prison.
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Mills recently sentenced Menionti Hall of Ruleville to two 60-month terms in federal prison after she pleaded guilty to two counts of a federal indictment charging her with conspiracy to commit identity theft, mail fraud and wire fraud and aid and abetting in the unlawful use of the identity of another.
Hall will serve the two sentences concurrently.
Hall also will pay $10,000 in restitution and forfeit to the government a Ford Explorer she purchased with money taken from a college loan service.
Fred Scott Jr. of Schlater, Mienester Huddleston of Tutwiler and Patricia Hall of Memphis, Tenn. also received prison sentences for their roles in the scheme.
Scott will serve two concurrent terms of 18 months in federal prison.
He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit identity theft, mail fraud and wire fraud and aiding and abetting in the unlawful use of the identity of another.
Huddleston and Patricia Hall both received probation for five years after entering guilty pleas to aiding and abetting in the unlawful use of the identity of another.
Scott, Patricia Hall and Huddleston were ordered to pay $30,000 in restitution. Patricia Hall was ordered to forfeit a Jeep Grand Cherokee. Huddleston was ordered to forfeit a Toyota Camry. Both vehicles were purchased using some of the total $130,000 money gotten in the scheme.
Here's how the scheme worked, according to facts in the case: Menionti Hall provided Scott, Patricia Hall and Huddleston with the stolen identities of two other individuals, including a patient in the Veterans Hospital in Memphis. They used the identities to file fraudulent student loan applications to College Financing Services, a Boston-based lender.
Evidence in the cases show that Menionti Hall helped Scott, Patricia Hall and Huddleston file the student loan applications over the Internet. She also helped them provide fictitious college transcripts from Mississippi Valley State University, Coahoma Community College and The University of Memphis to the lender in support of the loan applications. Additionally, Menionti Hall provided false reference letters from fictitious employers as support to the applications.
After Scott, Patricia Hall and Huddleston got their student loan checks, they would go to Tom Wadler Nissan in Greenville and purchase a car. Scott bought a 2004 Pontiac Grand Am after getting his check on March 18, 2004. Huddleston bought the Camry on March 25, 2004, with her loan money. Patricia Hall bought a 2002 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Dec. 18, 2003, with the money. Court records also show that Menionti Hall helped Huddleston purchase a 2001 Ford Explorer from the Nissan dealership on March 24, 2005.
Each time the Menionti would get the remainder of the cash after the transaction, plus a "finder's fee" from the dealership for bringing in a new customer.
