Plea Entered In Milwaukee County Identity Theft Case

MADISON - Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen announced today that on May 8, 2009, Conswela Taylor, 33, of 1213 N. 30th Street, Milwaukee, appeared before Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Dennis Cimpl and entered a plea of guilty to one count of unauthorized use of an individual's personal identifying information, in court case number 2009-CF-0690.  Sentencing has been scheduled for July 7 when Ms. Taylor will face a maximum of 6 years in prison and a fine of not more than $10,000.

The charge stems from Taylor's employment as a caregiver for developmentally disabled adults at the Wahner House, a community based residential facility in Brown Deer.  According to the criminal complaint filed by the Department of Justice, Taylor stole the identity of Pamela E., a resident of the facility who suffers from profound cognitive disability and cerebral palsy.  Specifically, Taylor misappropriated the victim's name and social security number, to which she had access because of her caregiver position.  Then, Taylor created an MCI telephone account by calling MCI and posing as Pamela E.  Taylor obtained residential phone services for several weeks until she was caught by her employer.  The bill for services was never paid.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Eric Dfort of the Medicaid Fraud Control and Elder Abuse Unit.