JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A federal court in Jacksonville sentenced Anthony Jermaine Robinson, 31, Covington Georgia, to 42 months in prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft.
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U.S. District Judge Marcia Morales Howard also sentenced co-defendant, Kiana Fina Alphonse, 29, Covington, Ga., to 36 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit bank fraud, bank fraud, false representation of a social security number and aggravated identity theft.
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According to court documents and public records, deputies from Columbia County Sheriff’s Office stopped Robinson in a car for a cracked windshield in 2019. During a search of the vehicle, the CCSO found counterfeit social security cards and driver’s licenses of other individuals. Credit cards in the name of other people and multiple phones were also found.
During the investigation, CCSO determined that Robinson’s cellphone contained text messages between himself and Alphonse on instructions on how to fraudulently set up business accounts at banks using “fraudulent documents for non-existent businesses, identification documents and Social Security numbers.”
Read: Former JSO officer pleads guilty to COVID relief fraud
Robinson and Alphonse used the personally identifiable information (PII) of multiple victims with counterfeit driver’s licenses from the state of Washington and Delaware. Those forged driver’s licenses contained the PII of the victims but with a photo of Alphonse.
Alphonse visited multiple banks and set up a number of fraudulent business bank accounts in the name of their victims. These accounts were then used as part of a scam to defraud victims with online purchases of nonexistent cars.
The Department of Justice said that once the bank accounts received money from victims, Robinson, Alphonse and co-conspirators withdrew the money for their own use.
Read: Another Jacksonville COVID relief fraud case results in guilty plea
Robinson is also serving a prison sentence for violating parole on a fraud related crime. He’s also wanted on violation of probation warrants from South Carolina and Columbia County on two unrelated financial crime cases.
The court ordered both Robinson and Alphonse to pay $9,463.32 in restitution to the victims they defrauded. Robinson had pleaded guilty on Feb. 8, 2023 and Alphonse pleaded guilty on Apr. 26, 2023.
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