SEATTLE — On Friday, a grand jury indicted two persons for targeting seriously ill veterans for fraud.
U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman announced that 46-year-old Darryl Lamont Young, a current inmate in the King County Jail and his accomplice 27-year-old Aqueelah Ngiesha Williams, plead guilty in federal court.
“The conduct in this case is truly shocking – calling medical facilities and seriously ill veterans under the pretense of being a VA employee trying to provide the ill veteran with financial benefits. In reality, these two were seeking personal and financial information to defraud the veteran,” said U.S. Attorney Gorman. “While they did not get a huge amount of money with this scheme, the harm they caused to those already suffering a health crisis, is deserving of federal prosecution.”
According to the indictment, Young, having previously served in the military, took his knowledge of support services offered to veterans to make calls from jail to veteran facilities. Young pretended to be a VA employee to gain information about veterans in the Intensive Care Unit.
To avoid detection, Young would call veteran facilities and ask to be transferred to another facility. He would then request information from the facility about the veteran under their care, which included phone numbers and emergency contacts.
Young would then call Williams, who would make a three-way call to the veteran or their relative and request banking information to deposit benefit funds that did not exist.
Young and Williams would then use the information to transfer money from the veteran’s account to an account they controlled. In total, 30 medical facilities were targeted affecting 60 veterans.
Both were charged with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, six counts of wire fraud and six counts of aggravated identity theft.
If convicted, each wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud count is punishable by up to 20 years. If convicted of aggravated identity theft, each could get a two-year jail sentence that can be tacked on to other convictions.
The U.S. Secret Service and Office of Inspector General, Veterans Affairs is investigating the case.