Ex-employee of Colonial Penn charged in ID-theft scam

A federal grand jury yesterday charged a former employee of Colonial Penn Life Insurance Co. with using company computers to steal personal and bank-account information of customers who also had accounts with Citizens Bank, M&T Bank and Wachovia Bank.

Authorities said that between Aug. 1, 2007 and Aug. 8, 2008, Lisa Bryant Nelson, 37, of North Philadelphia, passed on the customers' information to individuals who made fake IDs and counterfeit checks in the names of the bank customers.

The charging papers said the photo IDs were for so-called "check-runners," individuals who would pose as customers of the banks.

The check-runners would cash the bogus checks made payable to those customers and make fraudulent withdrawals from the customers' accounts, the indictment said.

Authorities said Nelson had been recruited by a person identified only as "Co-Conspirator 1" to provide him with the personal information and bank accounts of the Colonial Penn customers.

The unidentified co-conspirator used the information to manufacture fraudulent checks and driver's licenses, then provided the phony documents to others involved in the scheme.

Nelson allegedly gave the co-conspirator more than 120 Colonial Penn customers' bank-account and personal information, including names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth.

The indictment alleged that the check-runners cashed or attempted to cash counterfeit checks made payable to 32 of those customers, or withdrew or tried to withdraw money from their accounts, totaling more than $157,000.

The check-runners hit banks on 40 occasions in Chester County, northeastern Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware and Maryland between September 2007 and August 2008, authorities said.

Nelson was charged with conspiracy, bank fraud, aggravated identity theft and unauthorized use of a computer, authorities said. If convicted of all charges, she faces 21 to 27 months under advisory guidelines plus a two-year mandatory minimum sentence for aggravated identity theft. *