U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri
ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Henry E. Autrey on Tuesday sentenced a man who stole the identities of 13 people to apply for loans and obtain other things of value to four years in prison and ordered him to repay $26,812.
Deleon Ford, 32, of Ferguson, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in St. Louis in March to one count of wire fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft. He admitted using the identities of multiple people to open financial accounts, obtain unsecured loans, rent a U-Haul truck and open a cell phone account. Ford submitted online credit applications to various lenders, transmitted or hand-delivered identification documents bearing his picture and the stolen identifiers of others and created fake pay stubs, utility bills and bank statements to further his scheme.
Ford also helped an Illinois jail inmate to obtain loans in the name of others.
In all, Ford admitted stealing the identity of 13 people in an attempt to obtain more than $40,000, including loans, cellphone service and the rental truck.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Ellisville (Missouri) Police Department investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Tracy Berry prosecuted the case.