Virginia Beach man pleads guilty in identity theft, fraud

NORFOLK

A Virginia Beach man pleaded guilty today to aggravated identity theft and participating in a scheme to defraud Navy Federal Credit Union, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the eastern district of Virginia.

Jorge Luis Silva-Davalos, 29, is to be sentenced Jan. 22 and faces up to 30 years for the financial institution fraud plus a mandatory, consecutive two-year term in prison for the aggravated identity theft, the news release said.

According to court documents, between December 2007 and February 2008, Silva-Davalos, with others, defrauded financial institutions, including the credit union, by creating bogus car loans using stolen identities of patients from a local hospital and neighbors of a member of the scheme, the news release said.

Using the stolen personal information and instructions from Silva-Davalos, who had past experience in obtaining fraudulent car loans, the schemers applied online to Navy Federal Credit Union to buy vehicles that did not exist, the news release said.

They completed four loan applications totaling $130,500 and obtained $61,000 from the credit union before an employee became suspicious about someone attempting to cash a cashier’s check, the news release said. Virginia Beach police arrested that person and the scheme unraveled.

Nichole Ray Easton, a hospital clerk, was one of the first arrested, back in April. Easton pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court on Sept. 9 to one count of aggravated identity theft. She worked as a registrar in Bon Secours DePaul Medical Center’s emergency room and admitted in court that she stole patient addresses and other personal information that was used in the scheme.

Hospital records show that she accessed patient records frequently between October 2007 and April, according to a statement filed in federal court that she signed.

Easton is to be sentenced on Dec. 8, the news release said.

Paul Stephen Mears, who was a car salesman at a Virginia Beach dealership, was charged with bank fraud and has pleaded guilty, the news release said. He is to be sentenced Jan. 5.