A federal jury in South Carolina found Quinae Shamyra Stephens, 41, of Douglasville, Georgia, guilty of conspiring to commit bank and wire fraud, identity theft, aggravated identity theft, access device fraud, interstate transportation of a stolen vehicle, and felon in possession of a firearm or ammunition.
Stephens tried to use a sovereign citizen defense during her trial, but the court rejected her arguments.
Stephens was accused of abandoning a stolen U-Haul van nearly half a dozen states away from where it was supposed to be returned by the end of August 2021. Stephens was already prohibited from possessing the gun and ammunition because of four state felony convictions for fraud-related offenses and was on probation for two of those offenses.
Prosecutors claimed that after making this decision, the mother chose to send her son Deandre Copes, 23, also of Douglasville, “on a multi-state criminal adventure to Florida.” According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina, Stephens traveled down the East Coast in a second stolen U-Haul van while carrying a loaded semi-automatic handgun in her waistband, along with the tools required to steal more identities, create phony credit cards, and print fake checks, as well as dozens of fraudulently obtained identities.
When she stopped near a bank, the Latta Police Department in a tiny town in South Carolina eventually apprehended her for acting suspiciously.
More than a dozen identification documents, many of which bore Stephens’s image and were issued in different names, as well as more than 25 debit and credit cards, the majority of which were issued in the names of people other than Stephens or her son, were found during the search of the van, according to the prosecution.
The Secret Service’s forensics examination into Stephens’ activities discovered that he regularly downloaded from the dark web training materials on identity theft and credit card fraud as well as malware for obtaining personally identifiable information.
Additionally, the laptop had documents and data that could be used to build phony banking websites and steal account information.
Stephens was given a 224-month federal prison sentence by U.S. District Judge Sherri A. Lydon, followed by a five-year period of court-mandated monitoring. In the federal system, parole does not exist.
Stephens was also mandated to compensate her victims.
After pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud, her son—who testified during Stephens’ trial—was already given time served.
Stephens was sentenced with enhancements for her leadership in the criminal organization and for obstructing justice. The court also heard evidence that Stephens fraudulently applied for and was granted many Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans in both her own and other people’s names.
