A woman from Long Island could spend as much as 30 years in federal prison after admitting to using a fake ID at a bank in Fredonia as part of a scheme to defraud. U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo announced Friday that 35-year-old Jennifer Poliandro of Medford has pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank fraud and aggravated identity theft, which was the result of an investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Department of State's Diplomatic Security Service.
According to prosecutors, Poliandro conspired with others to obtain personally identifiable information of multiple victims from the Internet and use the information to create counterfeit military identification cards and United States passport cards. These fraudulent cards were then used to obtain and attempt to obtain money from various banks in the Western District of New York. On February 18th, Poliandro went to a Lake Shore Bank branch in Fredonia, where she used a counterfeit military ID card in the name of an individual living in Jamestown to obtain $7,800 from a home equity line of credit account associated with that person. The total loss amount of the scheme, including actual loss and intended loss, is between $15,000 and $40,000.
Sentencing for Poliandro is scheduled for October 13th.
