Officials joined ring that stole IDs from homeless people, DA says

The fraud netted $1.2 million. Ultimately, the group’s members disagreed over how the money would be distributed, with some believing that one of the leaders had withheld thousands of dollars in proceeds and kept the money in a safe in his apartment. Two people, including Sameera Roberts Baker, 34, broke into the leader’s home, Mr Bragg said. The other burglar has not yet been charged, he said.

Charde Baker, 35, was a ringleader in the scheme to defraud the pandemic relief fund, Mr. Bragg said. She worked for the Department of Homeless Services and used her job there to steal the identities of homeless people, he said. She used the money from the fraud to finance two trips to Mexico and another to Tanzania, Mr Bragg said.

As the scammers filled out bank card applications, they discussed different professions they could list for the homeless people they were impersonating. In one text, an unnamed co-defendant told Ms. Baker in September 2020 that she had described a homeless person as a freelance writer, which she hoped “wasn’t a cliché,” according to the complaint.

A month later, a defendant, Shanice Roberts, 30, texted Mr. Baker suggesting they describe someone as a hairstylist. “Do it right so the bread can be split in three directions,” Ms. Roberts wrote.

As investigators closed in, the conspirators also took steps to suppress evidence, Mr. Bragg said. After one person was arrested, that defendant texted another: “Throw it out the window… brother… throw it out,” referring to ghost gun parts and manufacturing equipment.

The recipient, a defendant named Adrienne Manigault, 25, texted back: “I did.”

The sprawling scheme involved members who conspired on some issues but not on others, Mr. Bragg said. In a wave of crimes involving illegally manufactured weapons, identity theft, defrauding the government and burglaries, Mr. Bragg said, “We have intertwined street crime and white-collar crime,” describing an increasingly common pattern. “We see a clear link between those who simultaneously engage in violent crimes and traditional white-collar fraud.”