Ex-Schools Employee and Friend Admit ID Theft

A former D.C. public schools employee admitted in federal court yesterday that she and a friend stole the identities of 65 co-workers and job applicants as part of a scheme to open credit card accounts in their names.

Prosecutors said the pair opened about 30 lines of credit with the stolen identities and charged at least $40,000 for items including boys' coats, musical equipment and car service.

Rashelle L. Henderson, 22, of District Heights, who worked as a program support specialist for D.C. schools, and her friend Tashana Crews, 25, of Southeast Washington, both pleaded guilty yesterday in U.S. District Court to conspiring to commit identity theft.

Judge Emmet G. Sullivan will sentence the pair in October. They face 12 to 18 months in prison under sentencing guidelines.

The scam, which lasted about a year, began in April 2006 when Henderson was working at the school system's office of professional development in the 200 block of G Street NE. As part of her job, she had access to documents that contained the names, birthdates and Social Security numbers of school employees and those who were applying for jobs, according to prosecutors.

Henderson sent the stolen identification information to Crews by e-mail, and both used the names and other personal data to open credit accounts, prosecutors said.

In September 2006, prosecutors said, the pair opened a credit card account in the name of a job applicant and used it to buy two North Face jackets on the Internet, prosecutors said. They also used the identity of a former school system intern to open credit card accounts that they used to purchase musical equipment, including a drum machine, from an online store, according to an affidavit filed in the case by a U.S. Secret Service agent.

With lines of credit using the name of a teacher's aide, Crews and Henderson bought almost $2,000 worth of other musical items and $5,000 worth of furniture, the affidavit said.

During a search of Henderson's home, police found an unloaded AK-47 assault rifle under her mattress and ammunition elsewhere in the house, prosecutors said.

Henderson's lawyer, Joanne Hepworth, told the judge that the rifle belonged to a former boyfriend. Prosecutors agreed not to charge Henderson with possession of the rifle as part of yesterday's plea deal.

Sullivan, who called the scam "wholesale larceny," told Henderson she was fortunate that prosecutors decided not to charge her with illegal gun possession.

"That is a very generous gift," Sullivan told Henderson, who has three young children. "You can count this as one of the luckier days in your life."

Sullivan granted a request to hold off sentencing until Henderson's children celebrate their birthdays. The fathers of the children are in prison, Henderson said.