Financial Fraud: Erick and Kimberly Dominguez Pleaded Guilty To Conspiracy To Commit Wire Fraud

<h2>Husband And Wife Plead Guilty to Social Security Fraud Scheme<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<p>OAKLAND – Erick and Kimberly Dominguez pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with their scheme to defraud the Social Security Administration &lpar;SSA&rpar;&comma; announced United States Attorney David L&period; Anderson and SSA Office of Inspector General Special Agent in Charge Robb Stickley&period; The plea was received by the Honorable Haywood S&period; Gilliam Jr&period;&comma; U&period;S&period; District Judge&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to the defendants’ plea agreements&comma; Kimberly Dominguez&comma; 37&comma; of Vallejo&comma; Calif&period;&comma; was an employee at the SSA’s Oakland Teleservice Center&period; From September 2015 until October 2019&comma; Ms&period; Dominguez used her employment at the SSA to divert Social Security direct deposit payments from recipients’ bank accounts to bank accounts that she controlled&period; After the diverted benefits were deposited&comma; Erick Dominquez&comma; 39&comma; withdrew money from the accounts&comma; primarily via ATM cash withdrawals&period; In two instances&comma; Ms&period; Dominguez reinstated suspended Social Security benefits before diverting them&period; In total&comma; Ms&period; Dominguez diverted at least &dollar;247&comma;784&period;70 in Social Security payments from more than 30 recipients&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A federal grand jury indicted the defendants on November 7&comma; 2019&comma; charging them both with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud&comma; in violation of 18 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 1349&comma; and Ms&period; Dominguez with an additional seven counts of wire fraud&comma; in violation of 18 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 1343&period; Both defendants pleaded guilty to the conspiracy count&semi; and if Ms&period; Dominquez complies with her plea agreement&comma; the additional charges against her will be dismissed at sentencing&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Judge Gilliam scheduled the defendants’ sentencing hearing for July 13&comma; 2020&comma; in Oakland&comma; Calif&period; The maximum statutory penalty for conspiracy to commit wire fraud is twenty years’ imprisonment&comma; a &dollar;250&comma;000 fine&comma; and a three-year term of supervised release&period; However&comma; any sentence will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U&period;S&period; Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence&comma; 18 U&period;S&period;C&period; § 3553&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Special Assistant United States Attorney Christopher Vieira is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Marina Ponomarchuk&period; The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the SSA Office of the Inspector General with assistance from the FBI&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The defendants charged in this case are among the 400 defendants charged nationwide by federal prosecutors this year in connection with <a class&equals;"wpil&lowbar;keyword&lowbar;link" href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;fraudswatch&period;com&sol;tag&sol;financial-fraud&sol;" title&equals;"financial" data-wpil-keyword-link&equals;"linked" data-wpil-monitor-id&equals;"953">financial<&sol;a> schemes that targeted or largely affected seniors&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Today Attorney General William P&period; Barr announced the launch of a National Elder Fraud Hotline&comma; which will provide services to seniors who may be victims of financial fraud&period; The Hotline will be staffed by experienced case managers who can provide personalized support to callers&period; Case managers will assist callers with reporting the suspected fraud to relevant agencies and by providing resources and referrals to other appropriate services as needed&period; When applicable&comma; case managers will complete a complaint form with the Federal Bureau of Investigation Internet Crime Complaint Center &lpar;IC3&rpar; for Internet-facilitated crimes and submit a consumer complaint to the Federal Trade Commission on behalf of the caller&period; The Hotline’s toll free number is 833-FRAUD-11 &lpar;833-372-8311&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;