Stole providers’ personal info to commit over 540 fraudulent wire transfers, Feds say
KENTUCKY — An ex-state of Kentucky employee has pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing payments related to adoption and foster care programs, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Brittany Joyce May of Frankfort diverted provider payments to four bank accounts she “owned and controlled,” a news release issued Friday by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky states.
May, 35, perperated the scheme from July 2021 to May 2023 when she worked for the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services as an administrative specialist.
In her position, May managed payments for providers of adoption and foster care services. However, May manipulated and defrauded the system by diverting payments that would have gone to the providers to one of her own four bank accounts.
May’s job involved putting the providers’ information, including bank account data, into a computer directory. She “misappropriated” over $444,000 through more than 540 fraudulent wire transfers, the release adds.
She covered up her actions through false invoices “to make it appear as if the provider had requested payment.” May also changed the providers’ listed addresses to keep them from receiving notifications of payments they had not requested.
May used the names and Social Security numbers of 45 providers in the state computer system and opened two bank accounts with their personal information. The investigation was headed up by the IRS and U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
May faces up to 20 years in prison for wire fraud when she is sentenced in federal court Nov. 5 and a mandatory two years for the aggravated identity theft charge.
