Minnesota Woman Who Defrauded Thirty Credit Unions in Eight States Sentenced to Federal Prison

A woman who used other peoples’ personal information to obtain money from thirty credit unions and four businesses located in eight states was sentenced on August 4, 2023, to more than seven years in federal prison.

Maegen Catherine Fortin, age 40, from Otsego, Minnesota, received the prison term after a September 15, 2022 guilty plea to one count of financial institution fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

Information from Fortin’s plea and sentencing showed that between March 2020 and September 2021, Fortin engaged in fraudulent conduct at credit unions and businesses located in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.  Fortin possessed or used the personal identifiers, such as names, Social Security numbers, and dates of birth, of at least ninety different people without their permission in connection with her fraud.  Fortin used fraudulent United States passports, military IDs, and state driver’s licenses containing the victims’ personal information to apply for loans, lines of credit, accounts, and/or credit or debit cards in the victims’ names.  Fortin attempted to obtain at least $650,000 and successfully obtained more than $460,000 as a result of her fraudulent conduct.

Fortin was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Fortin was sentenced to 93 months’ imprisonment.  She was ordered to make $463,774.59 in restitution to the credit unions and businesses.  She must also serve a five-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Fortin is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until she can be transported to a federal prison.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kyndra Lundquist and investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 22-CR-0072.

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