A federal judge in San Antonio sentenced 32-year-old San Diego man to 46 months in federal prison for his role in an identity theft and fraud scheme that victimized thousands of U.S. service members and veterans, the Department of Justice said Thursday.
In addition to the prison term, Chief U.S. District Judge Orlando Garcia ordered that Trorice Crawford pay $103,700 in restitution and be placed on supervised release for a period of three years after completing his prison term.
On December 5, 2019, Crawford pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to launder monetary instruments. By pleading guilty, Crawford admitted that from May 2017 to July 2019, he conspired with Robert Wayne Boling, Jr. (a U.S. citizen), and others to steal money belonging to U.S. Servicemembers and veterans. Crawford admitted to recruiting at least 30 individuals (aka “money mules”) who provided their bank account information to receive funds stolen from military-affiliated individuals. On average, each unauthorized transfer from a victim’s accounts ranged from between $8,000 to $13,000. Crawford kept a percentage of the withdrawn funds for himself and oversaw the transmission of the remaining amounts by means of international money remittance services to Boling and others in the Philippines.
“The Department of Justice will not tolerate fraud on America’s warfighters and veterans,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Ethan P. Davis of the Department’s Civil Division. “Working with our partners and using all tools available, we are committed to protecting those who protect us.”
In October, Crawford’s co-defendant Frederick Brown, age 38 of Las Vegas, NV, pleaded guilty to federal charges in connection with this scheme. Brown, a former civilian medical records administrator for the U.S. Army at the 65th Medical Brigade, Yongsan Garrison, South Korea, admitted that while logged into the Armed Forces Health Longitudinal Technology Application, he illegally captured on his cell phone personal identifying information (PII) of thousands of military members, including names, social security numbers, DOD ID numbers, dates of birth, and contact information. Brown further admitted that he subsequently provided that stolen data to Boling so that Boling and others could exploit the information in various ways to access the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs benefits sites and steal millions of dollars.
As asserted in the federal grand jury indictment, Boling, together with his Philippines-based co-defendants Allan Albert Kerr (Australian citizen) and Jongmin Seok (South Korean citizen), specifically used the stolen information to compromise a Department of Defense portal designed to enable military members to access benefits information online. Once through the portal, the defendants are alleged to have accessed benefits information. Access to these detailed records enabled the defendants to steal or attempt to steal millions of dollars from military members’ bank accounts. The defendants also stole veterans’ benefits payments. Evidence of the defendants’ scheme was detected earlier this year, advancing the investigation that led to the indictment.
The Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs are coordinating with the Department of Justice to notify and provide resources to the thousands of identified victims.
Boling, Kerr, and Seok are charged with multiple counts of conspiracy, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft. Boling, Kerr, and Seok remain in the Philippines. Measures are being taken to affect their transfer to the Western District of Texas. Brown remains in federal custody awaiting sentencing scheduled on September 17 before Judge Garcia in San Antonio.
