Los Angeles Man Who Traveled to Northwest for Bank Fraud Pleads Guilty Defendant and Co-Conspirator Arrested at Sea-Tac with Cache of Fake ID’s
| U.S. Attorney’s Office January 30, 2009 |
LAMOS WAYNE STURGIS, 57, of Los Angeles, California, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to Identification Document Fraud and Aggravated Identity Theft. STURGIS was arrested in mid-November 2008, with a cache of fake identities as he tried to clear security and board a plane at Sea-Tac airport. When sentenced by U.S. District Judge Marsha J. Pechman on May 8, 2009, STURGIS faces a mandatory minimum two years in prison on top of any sentence for the underlying document fraud conviction.
According to the plea agreement filed today in court, STURGIS arrived at Sea-Tac on November 13, 2008, with co-defendant Jodi Lynn Waller and others involved in the conspiracy. The group planned to travel to banks and use the false identities to drain customer accounts. After their arrival at Sea-Tac, STURGIS and the co-conspirators tried to make a $5,000 cash withdrawal from a customer account at a Wells Fargo Bank branch in Auburn, Washington. Approximately four hours later, STURGIS tried to make another $5,000 withdrawal from a different customer account at a Wells Fargo branch in Portland, Oregon. The next day, November 14, 2008, STURGIS attempted a third time to withdraw $2,500 from another customer account at a Portland Wells Fargo branch. In each case, alert tellers refused to hand over the money. At least one of STURGIS’s co-conspirators was more successful – at a Wells Fargo branch in Portland, a female co-conspirator withdrew $2,500 from a victim account. STURGIS has agreed to pay $17,000 in restitution.
When arrested at Sea-Tac STURGIS had fake social security cards or drivers licenses in the names of nineteen different people. Identification Document Fraud is punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Co-defendant Jodi Lynn Waller is scheduled to enter a guilty plea next week.
The case was investigated by the FBI.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Michael Scoville and Kurt Hermanns.