Two former Indiana correctional officers sentenced for stealing inmates’ identities

Two former Indiana correctional officers have been sentenced to federal prison for using inmates’ stolen identities in an international fraud scheme, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District Court announced Wednesday.

Martins Tochukwu Chidiobi, 34, Columbus, Ohio, and Lawrence Onyesonwu, 38, Muncie, have each been sentenced to three years in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release and payment of a $5,000 fine, after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft and making false statements to a financial institution.

According to court documents, between 2015 and their arrest date in January 2019, Chidiobi and Onyesonwu worked as correctional officers at the New Castle Correctional Facility, a privately managed prison within the Indiana Department of Correction.

During that time, Chidiobi and Onyesonwu stole at least five inmates’ personally identifiable information, including names, dates of birth, and social security numbers, authorities said. They were accused of using the stolen identities of the inmates to open at least nine accounts at various Indiana banks using fraudulent passports. The fraudulent passports were purportedly issued by Nigeria, Liberia, and Ghana, and included pictures of the defendants, but the names and other information came from identity theft victims.

The accounts opened by the defendants with the stolen identities were then used to receive the proceeds of broader fraud schemes, authorities said. A total of at least $331,282 was deposited into the defendants’ fraudulent bank accounts from at least 11 sources.

Investigators worked to identify and contact individuals who deposited funds into the fraudulent accounts. Of the 11 depositors able to be identified, each was themselves the victim of a “romance scam” or other fraud scheme. Further investigation revealed that the defendants also received deposits of apparent fraud proceeds into their own personal bank accounts.

The vast majority of the more than $331,282 in apparent fraud proceeds received by the defendants was withdrawn as cash. A large portion of the money was transferred into Nigerian bank accounts.

“It is simply reprehensible for correctional officers to exploit their positions to steal inmates’ identities and further the financial exploitation of scam victims,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana Zachary A. Myers said in a news release. “Transnational fraud schemes have lasting repercussions for victims all over the country, and everyone who commits these crimes must be held accountable.”

The FBI investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tiffany J. Preston and Corbin D. Houston prosecuted the case. The sentences were imposed by U.S. District Judge James P. Hanlon.

Onyesonwu’s attorney Thomas A. Brodnik, with McNeely Law LLP did not immediately respond to request for comment. Neither did Chidiobi’s attorney Jeffrey A. Baldwin with Voyles Vaiana Lukemeyer Baldwin & Webb.