The King County Superior Court sentenced a 53-year-old Seattle woman in connection to an identity theft scheme that targeted older King County women.
Branchina Williamson-Holbert, 53, pleaded guilty on May 30 to 40 counts of identity theft in the first degree and four counts of identity theft in the second degree.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, law enforcement investigators identified a total of 44 identity theft victims that Williamson-Holbert targeted from 2019 to 2020, ranging from ages 56 to 97, and including residents from Renton, Federal Way, Auburn, Enumclaw, Des Moines, Seattle, Issaquah and more.
According to prosecutorial documents, Williamson-Holbert posed as a fraud investigator from a bank to victims, stating to the victims that fraud had been committed on their accounts and that she needed to obtain their personal information immediately to secure the accounts.
In the King County Sheriff’s Office’s investigation of the case, detectives executed search warrants, interviewed witnesses and victims, and reviewed and analyzed financial records and recordings from the financial institutions of victims.
”In the recordings, the defendant is heard calling the victims’ financial institutions, impersonating the victims, and providing the victims’ [personal information] to their financial institutions in order to access their accounts and take their funds,” prosecutorial documents stated.
According to prosecutors, Williamson-Holbert scanned the phone book for names she believed to belong to older women and called the numbers, pretending to be an investigator from the women’s banks.
Williamson-Holbert convinced the women she targeted to provide her with personal information including Social Security numbers, date of birth, account numbers, and passcodes prior to taking control of the women’s accounts and stealing funds “to make charges or purchases,” prosecutors stated.
Williamson-Holbert holds a criminal history of identity theft, criminal impersonation, forgery and more, ranging back to 1990. She was previously sentenced in March 2016 for identity theft in the second degree to 43 months in prison.
Victims of William-Holbertson’s identity theft scheme sent letters to the King County Superior Court in anticipation of her sentencing.
“Upon receiving the letter about the upcoming sentencing for the above-mentioned defendant, I was reminded of the horror I felt when I realized I had been scammed by that ‘kind lady’ who called me concerned about fraud incurred upon my bank account,” wrote one woman. “I was embarrassed to share falling for this scam with family and friends and that weighed heavily on me; still does to some extent.”
At the Oct. 10 sentencing hearing, Judge Nicholas Straley sentenced Williamson-Holbert to 36.75 months in prison on the 40 counts of identity theft in the first degree, and 25 months on the four counts of identity theft in the second degree, with the sentences to run concurrently, totalling to a 36.75 month sentence.
The court additionally ordered Williamson-Holbert to pay approximately $60,230 in restitution to victims.
Williamson-Holbert served as not present and out-of-custody at the time of her sentencing hearing, with prosecutors motioning for the issuance of a bench warrant against her.
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