Woman pleads guilty to ID theft

BANGOR – A letter delivered to a post office box in Eagle Lake instead of one in Portage Lake allowed a Wallagrass mother of six and her boyfriend to steal the identity of two Aroostook County residents and charge nearly $4,000 in merchandise in their names.

Nicole M. Dufresne, 32, waived indictment and pleaded guilty Wednesday in U.S. District Court to conspiring to commit wire, bank and mail fraud and conspiring to violate the laws governing the use of credit cards and Social Security numbers.

She was released after entering her plea on $5,000 unsecured bond.

Dufresne’s sentencing date has not been set.

Her alleged co-conspirator, Wayne David Broome, 49, is scheduled to waive indictment and plead guilty to similar charges next month.

Each faces up to five years in federal prison and fines of $250,000. They also could be ordered to pay restitution. Dufresne has repaid nearly $600 in credit card charges, according to court documents.

Broome obtained the Social Security numbers of two Aroostook County men in December 2003 when the results of employee drug tests were delivered to his post office box in Eagle Lake instead of a post office box in Portage Lake, according to court documents. The box numbers are identical but the zip codes are different.

In January 2004, Dufresne and Broome applied for credit online through the Gateway computer company in South Dakota.

That company sent the request to several financing companies. American General Bank approved the application.

Dufresne admitted Wednesday that she and Broome in February 2004 ordered more than $3,000 worth of merchandise including a computer, a digital camera and a 42-inch plasma television from Gateway.

Their scheme was discovered when a company in Jefferson, Maine, called the home of one of the men whose identity had been stolen to arrange delivery of the items, according to court documents.

” … [The man’s wife] told the caller they didn’t order a plasma TV,” Assistant U.S. Attorney James McCarthy wrote in the prosecution version of the crime. “The caller noted it was close to Valentine’s Day and perhaps [her husband] had ordered it as a gift. The caller told [her] it cost $3,500 and she immediately knew it was not a gift. …”

Dufresne also admitted Wednesday that she and Broome applied for credit cards online using the men’s names and social security numbers.

Some were denied because the social security numbers did not match the birth dates on the applications, but a Chase Manhattan Bank credit card along with a Personal Identification Number or PIN was sent to the address the pair had provided.

She admitted Wednesday that she had used the card for cash advances and to purchase merchandise that totaled nearly $600, which she has repaid.

Dufresne’s attorney, Wayne Foote of Bangor, is expected to argue that she be allowed to serve some of her sentence under house arrest.